Django for Beginners: Build websites with Python and Django

This book solidified and expanded my beginner's knowledge of Django received through prior courses. As of 12/2024 the information feels very up to date and relevant. Deployment checklist and walk-through was confidence building. Coverage of testing was solid and a good skill builder for me as it was frankly not well covered in my coursework. The author has a friendly, engaging style without being overly showman-like. This book seems a very good investment even given price and certainly a better investment than some other sources I've encountered.

This book rocks. Will is so helpful. He has a lot of insight. If you are considering Django get this book. It will teach you to the things that you need to know by an author who is an expert on the subject matter and cares for the learner.I went through the official Django tutorial. While it is good, I felt like I was drinking through a firehose. I couldn’t really juggle the content.Will literally takes you by the hand, gives just enough explanation to make sense, and then goes to the next topic. The book is setup where in the next project you revisit some of the previous topics, but with just slightly more depth. The further you go into the book, the more confident you become because Will has you repeat some of what you’ve learned prior. This learning strategy has helped me IMMENSELY.I am about 2/3 through this book and still trucking along. I did have to take a break on tests and deployment, although Will expertly walks you right through it. I feel like there’s a lot of juggling with Django, between Models, Views, Templates, URLs, Forms, etc. That’s all well and good, I just needed smaller bites to chew. But Will has it all in there AND IT WORKS.One suggestion for beginners is to make sure that you are using the same versions that Will is using. I haphazardly did not do this on one of my side projects and was all confused about how to log a user out. Logging a user out is different in Django 5+ than version 4.2. This was totally my mistake. After some googling I was able to figure it out.Thanks Will! I look forward to going through your other books in the near future!

I’m new to web development in general and especially with Django, so I was looking for a guide to get me started. This book was the perfect companion. It starts off gently, covering the basics and not skipping any steps. I appreciated that there was an overview of the Django architecture, projects vs apps, and a Hello World website to get my feet wet before quickly adding in new features. The format of six new projects where each one repeats past learnings and then adds new ones really worked for me. By the end, when I’d written from scratch the Newspaper CRM, tested it, and deployed felt magical.

This book delivers on what it promises. It provides a good introduction to the Django framework. The words "for Beginners" in the title might be misleading. If you are not already at least an intermediate level Python programmer this book is not for you. If you don't already have experience writing web applications, this book is not for you.I gave the book four stars, rather than five, because it has no index, so it cannot be used as a reference book.

Pg 3, in "Why this book" section:"My goal is that this book fills in gaps and showcases how beginner-friendly Django really is."This book did more than that for me.Best book for learning Django. Unlike other books, THIS BOOK IS CURRENT! According to the last page of my book, it was PRINTED ON THE DAY I ORDERED IT!This book ->introduces<- everything you need to work w/ Django.- setup- pipenv- structure- urls, forms, templates, statics, etc- testing- deploying to herokuYou won't be an expert, but it's nice to be able to practice a complete workflow b/c these things are just as important as learning Django itself.My Django journey:I did Python projects for about 4 months. When I felt comfortable w/ terminal and tkinter scripts, I moved onto DJango.I started w/ the official tutorial.- I got through it but didn't understand most of it.I battled w/ basic projects for about a month.Purchased Two Scoops of Django 1.11.- Forced myself through 3/4 of it- Understood about a 1/3 of it- Adopted their suggested project structure- Failed miserably at cookiecutter DjangoBy now, could set up basic projects, but didn't fully grasp urls, forms, templates, static, and a few others.This book helped piece all of that together. The way that it progresses helps hammer in the basics.It starts with a simple project. Then a second project, repeats the simple project but adds an element. Then a third that repeats the simple project, the previous element, then introduces another element. And so on.Most things just sort of fell into place as I went through the book. Forms, however.... I re-read that chapter like 5 times before it finally clicked.Is this book for complete beginners? Maybe, I don't know. I learn by fighting my way through a project or two and then going through official tutorials, courses, or books to fill in gaps. This book did that, and more.It's been a few months since I got through the book. I have since done a few projects for work and friends, and am able to navigate through the official Django documentation quite well. Can't wait until Two Scoops ... 2.2 comes out. And all thanks to this book.If you're like me: you learn by doing and like to fill in gaps reading books.If you've done a few projects and can set up a project and get some pages up but are looking for that extra resource to explain how forms work, or you just don't quite get how to structure the project, or something similar.This book is for you.

Equal parts walkthrough, explanation, context, code-snippets, and related resources. By the end, I have solid understanding of the fundamentals to build web apps from scratch. I also have a sense of just how much more there is to learn (how powerful Django is) and where to find resources and community support.