Can't load static files in my django project, error 404 - django

Question

I'm new to Django and i've seen a lot of people asking about this particular problem but i followed every instruction i could find and it still doesn't work.
My directorys look like this:
/Peperina
/Writing
/statics/writing
/css
/scss
/js
forms.js
/templates/writing
forms.html
my setings.py:
import os
BASE_DIR = os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)))
(...)
INSTALLED_APPS = [
'django.contrib.admin',
'django.contrib.auth',
'django.contrib.contenttypes',
'django.contrib.sessions',
'django.contrib.messages',
'django.contrib.staticfiles',
'writing.apps.WritingConfig',
]
(...)
STATICFILES_FINDERS = [
'django.contrib.staticfiles.finders.FileSystemFinder',
'django.contrib.staticfiles.finders.AppDirectoriesFinder',
]
STATIC_URL = '/statics/'
STATICFILES_DIRS = (
os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'statics'),
)
STATIC_ROOT = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'staticfiles')
My urls.py:
(...)
from django.conf import settings
from django.conf.urls.static import static
urlpatterns += static(settings.STATIC_URL, document_root=settings.STATIC_ROOT)
finaly my forms.html
(...)
{% load static %}
<script src="{% static 'writing\js\forms.js' %}"></script>
yet 404 keeps showing up

Answer 1

Try to change your STATIC_ROOT to os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'statics') ?

Answer 2

I have had this same problem multiple times myself.
I'd first start by removing the "writing" directory, and move all folders up.
You won't need to change your settings.py file too much if you start by doing that.
Create a new directory, called "static_root" in the same level as your current "statics" folder and copy all the static files you've got in your statics folder over to there. Be sure to have two copies of each (one in "statics" and another in "static_root"). This will be explained shortly.
Your static file information in settings.py should now be changed to look like this:
STATIC_ROOT = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'statics')
STATIC_URL = '/statics/'
STATICFILES_DIRS = (
os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'static_root'),
)
The reason you need to have a separate static_root is because Django sometimes gets a bit funny about there being a root static folder and a normal static folder. More info can be found here.
I personally do not have STATICFILES_FINDERS in my settings.py, so test with removing that.
Maybe also try running Python manage.py collectstatic as this will collect the static files for you.
If none of this works, as you mention you are new to Django, I'd recommend following some tutorials from start to finish to see if you can get it to work.
E.g. start here if you haven't done already.

Answer 3

Well this turned up to be a pretty goofy solution but i changed the name of all my "statics" directorys to just "static" and then did the same thing in my settings and... it worked
So... thanks anyway