Why not try Wagtail CMS?
Why not try Wagtail CMS?
An Introduction to Wagtail, an open-source content management system built on Python Django.
Hello, back with another short read for you. It has come up in my Twitter spaces a lot of people are talking about WordPress CMS, and that is a good thing. WordPress is good at what it does, and it has a vast robust ecosystem. That said, there is a lot of competition in the WordPress space. Also, PHP has its ups and downs, so I want to pose a question to you.
Would you like to try a content management system that is faster and more secure than PHP and WordPress? Would you like a content management system built on an unassuming robust framework?
Enter Wagtail
I want to introduce you to Wagtail, an open-source Content management system built on Python Django. Wagtail makes working with content fun, and you get the security of Django and access to all the libraries of Python and Django. Like working with Python, you do everything in a virtual environment, a "venv" with a few lines of code, and you can get a project up and running fast.
It works with the Django model view template structure "MVT." It also simplifies Django quite a bit. You do need separate files for models and views; it takes care of them both in one file. It makes routing easier than basic Django, and you wouldn't believe some of the companies that use this content management system. Made with Wagtail has a beautiful site showcasing some of the best sites made with Wagtail.
Wagtail has a great ecosystem with many helpful developers and a Slack channel to ask questions and get help. The team at Torchbox has done a great job with this community. Another feature of Wagtail I like - blocks you can use different blocks of all kinds of information or content and quickly move them around a page with your dashboard.
Wagtail.io states "Fast, Elegant, Open Source - the powerful CMS for modern websites." It also shows other significant brands that trust Wagtail, i.e., NASA, Google, BMW.
Why Wagtail?
Wagtail is a tool I sell when I talk to clients about building them a CMS, like Drupal in the PHP world. Wagtail sites are not cheap, but they are powerful, and you can make brilliant-looking sites with them quickly. Also, Wagtail is a bit of a hack when learning to code Python and use Django. It is easier to learn Django after you know Wagtail.
Getting Started
You can get started with seven lines of code in your terminal:
pip install wagtail
wagtail start mysite
cd mysite
pip install -r requirements.txt
python manage.py migrate
python manage.py runserver
Resources to Learn Wagtail
- Learn Wagtail by Kalob Taulien - Former core team member at Wagtail
- Wagtail Tutorials by Michael Yin - Good book series
- Arbington.com - $15/month for Python and Django courses
If you enjoyed this content let me know and I will write a short Wagtail tutorial in the future.