Adding a static file directory to override CSS in Django

Question

I'm trying to figure out why I can't override base.css in Django.

In settings.py I have:

STATIC_URL = "/site_media/static/"

And in site_base.html:

<link rel="stylesheet" href="{{ STATIC_URL }}pinax/css/base.css" />

And I have customized the file located in /site_media/static/pinax/css/base.css. But instead of reading the file from here, it is reading it from my python/site-packages/pinax directory still. And in the same site_base.html file I am able to override an image which is in the /site_media_static/pinax/images/ folder, which seems odd that I can overwrite the image but not the CSS file.

Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

Answer 1

The STATIC_URL is the URL static files are served from, not the directory where they are stored.

You need to add the directory containing your static files to STATICFILES_DIRS or put your static files in an app's static subdir.

See the docs for the Django staticfiles app.

Answer 2

STATIC_ROOT (which is referenced by STATIC_URL) should not be modified manually, it's being populated by collectstatic command from ann apps static dirs and STATICFILES_DIRS. In Django's dev server there is also a helper which allows accessing static file directly from the source, that allows easier debugging of JS and CSS.

In your case you can try putting updated file somewhere inside STATICFILES_DIRS. Also, take a look at STATICFILES_FINDERS which can change ordering for static files finders to set which one will have the priority.