Chapter 1 gives you an introduction to MVC web development frameworks, and explains why Python and Django are the best tools to achieve the aim of this book.

Chapter 2 provides a step-by-step guide to installing Python, Django, and an appropriate database system so that you can create an empty project and set up the development server.

Chapter 3 creates the main page so that we have an initial view and a URL. You will learn how to create templates for both the main page and the user page. You will also write a basic set of data models to store your application's data..

Chapter 4 is where the application really starts to take shape, as user management is implemented. Learn how to log users in and out, create a registration form, and allow users to manage their own accounts by changing email or password details.

Chapter 5 explores how to manage your growing bank of content. Create tags, tag clouds, and a bookmark submission form, all of which interact with your database. Security features also come into play as you learn how to restrict access to certain pages and protect them against malicious input.

Chapter 6 enables you to enhance your application with AJAX and jQuery, since users can now edit entries in place and do live searching. Data entry is also made easier with the introduction of auto-completion.

Chapter 7 shows you how to enable users to vote and comment on their bookmark entries. You will also build a popular bookmarks page.

Chapter 8 focuses on the administration interface. You will learn how to create and customize the interface, which allows you to manage content and set permissions for users and groups.

Chapter 9 will give your application a much more professional feel through the implementation of RSS feeds and pagination.

Chapter 10 tackles social networks providing the "social" element of your application. Users will be able to build a friend network, browse the bookmarks of their friends, and invite their friends to join the web site.

Chapter 11 covers extending and deploying your application. You will also learn about advanced features, including offering the site in multiple languages, managing the site during high traffic, and configuring the site for a production environment.

Chapter 12 takes a brief look at the additional Django features that have not been covered elsewhere in the book. You will gain the knowledge required to further develop your application and build on the basic skills that you have learned throughout the book.

This book is for web developers who want to learn how to build a complete site with Web 2.0 features, using the power of a proven and popular development system—Django—but do not necessarily want to learn how a complete framework functions in order to do this. Basic knowledge of Python development is required for this book, but no knowledge of Django is expected.

In this book, you will find a number of styles of text that distinguish between different kinds of information. Here are some examples of these styles, and an explanation of their meaning.

Code words in text are shown as follows: "We can include other contexts through the use of the include directive."

A block of code will be set as follows:

{% extends "base.html" %}
{% block title %}User Registration{% endblock %}
{% block head %}User Registration{% endblock %}
{% block content %}
<form method="post" action=".">
  {{ form.as_p }}
  <input type="submit" value="register" />
</form>
{% endblock %}

When we wish to draw your attention to a particular part of a code block, the relevant lines or items will be shown in bold:

import os
from django.conf.urls.defaults import *
from bookmarks.views import *

site_media = os.path.join(
  os.path.dirname(__file__), 'site_media'
)

urlpatterns = patterns('',
  (r'^$', main_page),
  (r'^user/(\w+)/$', user_page),
  (r'^login/$', 'django.contrib.auth.views.login'),
  (r'^logout/$', logout_page),
  (r'^site_media/(?P<path>.*)$', 'django.views.static.serve',
    {'document_root': site_media}),
)

Any command-line input or output is written as follows:

$ django-admin.py startproject django_bookmarks

New terms and important words are shown in bold. Words that you see on the screen, in menus or dialog boxes for example, appear in our text like this: "clicking the Next button moves you to the next screen".

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