Overriding admin css in django - django

Question

I want to change certain css in admin django like base.css. Is it better to change directly in the django library? How can I override it in the best way?

Answer 1

It depends a lot of what you want to do. Though first of all: do not overwrite it in the Django admin directly. You got two options I think are reasonable:
If you want to change the appearance of the admin in general you should override admin templates. This is covered in details here: Overriding admin templates. Sometimes you can just extend the original admin file and then overwrite a block like {% block extrastyle %}{% endblock %} in django/contrib/admin/templates/admin/base.html as an example.
If your style is model specific you can add additional styles via the Media meta class in your admin.py. See an example here:
class MyModelAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
class Media:
js = ('js/admin/my_own_admin.js',)
css = {
'all': ('css/admin/my_own_admin.css',)
}

Answer 2

In settings.py, make sure your app is listed before admin in the INSTALLED_APPS.
Create (your-app)/templates/admin/base_site.html and put the <style> block into the {% block extrahead %}
Example:
{% extends "admin/base_site.html" %}
{% block extrahead %}
<style>
.field-__str__ {
font-family: Consolas, monospace;
}
</style>
{% endblock %}

Answer 3

This solution will work for the admin site, I think it's the cleanest way because it overrides base_site.html which doesn't change when upgrading django.
Create in your templates directory a folder called admin in it create a file named base_site.html.
Create in your static directory under css a file called admin-extra.css .
Write in it all the custom css you want for your forms like: body{background: #000;}.
Paste this in the base_site.html:
{% extends "admin/base.html" %}
{% load static from staticfiles %} # This might be just {% load static %} in your ENV
{% block title %}{{ title }} | {{ site_title|default:_('Django site admin') }}{% endblock %}
{% block extrastyle %}{{ block.super }}<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="{% static "css/admin-extra.css" %}" />{% endblock %}
{% block branding %}
<h1 id="site-name">{{ site_header|default:_('Django administration') }}</h1>
{% endblock %}
{% block nav-global %}{% endblock %}
As mentioned in the comments:
make sure your app is before the admin app in INSTALLED_APPS, otherwise your template doesn't override django's
That's It! you're done

Answer 4

I just extended admin/base.html to include a reference to my own css file - at the end. The beauty of css is that you don't have to touch existing definitions, just re-define.

Answer 5

In your static directory, create a static/admin/css/base.css file.
Paste in Django's default Admin CSS first, then add your customizations at the bottom.

Answer 6

If you want a global scope and you don't want to think about overriding templates a mixin works really well for this. Put this code wherever you want:
class CSSAdminMixin(object):
class Media:
css = {
'all': ('css/admin.css',),
}
Then, make a CSS file called admin.css with your overrides, for example:
select[multiple] {
resize: vertical;
}
Then, in whatever models you want, do:
class MyModelAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin, CSSAdminMixin):
And you'll be all set.

Answer 7

Have admin/css/changelists.css inside a folder in STATICFILES_DIRS, and it will user that changelists.css instead of the default admin one.

Answer 8

It just so happens that using <style> tag inside {% block extrastyle %}{% endblock %} did not work for me when I wanted to override css. Theming support provides the correct way. All I was missing is {{ block.super }} :-
{% extends 'admin/base.html' %}
{% block extrastyle %}{{ block.super }}
<style>
--- your style ---
--- properties here ---
</style>
{% endblock %}