#

## Django documentation

# Customizing the Django admin interface

Django's dynamic admin interface gives you a fully-functional admin for free with no hand-coding required. The dynamic admin is designed to be production-ready, not just a starting point, so you can use it as-is on a real site. While the underlying format of the admin pages is built in to Django, you can customize the look and feel by editing the admin stylesheet and images.

Here's a quick and dirty overview some of the main styles and classes used in the Django admin CSS.

## Modules

The `.module` class is a basic building block for grouping content in the admin. It's generally applied to a `div` or a `fieldset`. It wraps the content group in a box and applies certain styles to the elements within. An `h2` within a `div.module` will align to the top of the `div` as a header for the whole group.

## Column Types

The base template for each admin page has a block that defines the column structure for the page. This sets a class on the page content area (`div#content`) so everything on the page knows how wide it should be. So far there are three options available, and one special hybrid option.

colM
  This is the default column setting for all pages. The "M" stands for "main". Assumes that all content on the page is in one main column (`div#content-main`).
colMS
  This is for pages with one main column and a sidebar on the right. The "S" stands for "sidebar". Assumes that main content is in `div#content-main` and sidebar content is in `div#content-related`. This is used on the main admin page.
colSM
  Same as above, with the sidebar on the left. The source order of the columns doesn't matter.
colM superwide
  This is for ridiculously wide pages. Doesn't really work very well for anything but colM. With superwide, you've got 1000px to work with. Don't waste them.
flex
  This is for liquid-width pages, such as changelists. Currently only works with single-colum pages (does not combine with `.colMS` or `.colSM`). Form pages should never use `.flex`.

For instance, you could stick this in a template to make a superwide page:

    {% block coltype %}colM superwide{% endblock %}

or this to make a liquid-width page (note that `flex` replaces `colM`, so both classes are not required):

    {% block coltype %}flex{% endblock %}

## Widths

There's a whole mess of classes in the stylesheet for custom pixel widths on objects. They come in handy for tables and table cells, if you want to avoid using the `width` attribute. Each class sets the width to the number of pixels in the class, except `.xfull` which will always be the width of the column it's in. (This helps with tables that you want to always fill the horizontal width, without using `width="100%"` which makes IE 5's box model cry.)

Note: Within a `.flex` page, the `.xfull` class will `usually` set to 100%, but there are exceptions and still some untested cases.

Available width classes:

    .x50 .x75 .x100 .x150 .x200 .x250 .x300 .x400 .x500 .xfull

## Text Styles

### Font Sizes

Most HTML elements (headers, lists, etc.) have base font sizes in the stylesheet based on context. There are three classes are available for forcing text to a certain size in any context.

small
  11px
tiny
  10px
mini
  9px (use sparingly)

### Font Styles and Alignment

There are also a few styles for styling text.

.quiet
  Sets font color to light gray. Good for side notes in instructions. Combine with `.small` or `.tiny` for sheer excitement.
.help
  This is a custom class for blocks of inline help text explaining the function of form elements. It makes text smaller and gray, and when applied to `p` elements withing `.form-row` elements (see Form Styles below), it will offset the text to align with the form field. Use this for help text, instead of `small quiet`. It works on other elements, but try to put the class on a `p` whenever you can.
.align-left
  It aligns the text left. Only works on block elements containing inline elements.
.align-right
  Are you paying attention?
.nowrap
  Keeps text and inline objects from wrapping. Comes in handy for table headers you want to stay on one line.

### Floats and Clears

float-left
  floats left
float-right
  floats right
clear
  clears all

## Object Tools

Certain actions which apply directly to an object are used in form and changelist pages. These appear in a "toolbar" row above the form or changelist, to the right of the page. The tools are wrapped in a `ul` with the class `object-tools`. There are two custom tool types which can be defined with an additional class on the `a` for that tool. These are `.addlink` and `.viewsitelink`.

Example from a changelist page:

    <ul class="object-tools">
          <li><a href="/stories/add/" class="addlink">Add redirect</a></li>
         </ul>

and from a form page:

    <ul class="object-tools">
     <li><a href="/history/303/152383/">History</a></li>
     <li><a href="/r/303/152383/" class="viewsitelink">View on site</a></li>
    </ul>

## Form Styles

### Fieldsets

Admin forms are broken up into groups by `fieldset` elements. Each form fieldset should have a class `.module`. Each fieldset should have a header `h2` within the fieldset at the top (except the first group in the form, and in some cases where the group of fields doesn't have a logical label).

Each fieldset can also take extra classes in addition to `.module` to apply appropriate formatting to the group of fields.

.aligned
  this will align the labels and inputs side by side on the same line.
.wide
  used in combination with `.aligned` to widen the space available for the labels.

### Form Rows

Each row of the form (within the `fieldset`) should be enclosed in a `div` with class `form-row`. If the field in the row is required, a class of `required` should also be added to the `div.form-row`.

### Labels

Form labels should always precede the field, except in the case of checkboxes and radio buttons, where the `input` should come first. Any explanation or help text should follow the `label` in a `p` with class `.help`.

## Comments

## Post a comment

Note: Please only use the comments for questions/critcisms/suggestions on the docs; if you experience errors please file a ticket, ask in the IRC channel, or post to the django-users list. Comments will be periodically reviewed, integrated into the documentation proper, and removed.

Your name:

Comment: