Features

Django Palette comes with a comprehensive set of features designed to make building beautiful admin interfaces easy and enjoyable.

Beautiful Bootstrap Admin Interface

Out of the box, django-palette replaces Django’s default admin interface with a modern, responsive Bootstrap 5 design.

What you get:

Clean, professional design with consistent styling
Beautiful color scheme with professional gradients and shadows
Responsive layouts that work on desktop, tablet, and mobile
Smooth transitions and animations
Bootstrap Icons integration
Accessible HTML with proper semantic markup

Included Templates:

base_site.html - Main admin layout with sidebar
index.html - Dashboard/home page
change_list.html - Model list view with grid/list toggle
change_form.html - Add/edit form with file upload
change_password.html - Password change form
delete_confirmation.html - Delete confirmation dialog
login.html - Login page with gradient design

Responsive Design

Everything is built to work on any device size.

Desktop Experience:

Full sidebar navigation always visible
Multi-column layouts
Hover effects on interactive elements
Full feature access

Mobile Experience:

Collapsible sidebar with toggle button
Single-column layouts
Touch-friendly buttons and controls
All features accessible

Reusable Components

Build UI components once and reuse them throughout your admin interface.

Component Features:

Define with palette_component template tag
Render with palette_ui template tag
Pass context variables naturally
Override specific blocks with palette_override
No repetition of template code
Clean separation of concerns

Example:

{% palette_component "card" %}
  <div class="card">
    {% palette_block "content" %}
      <p>Default content</p>
    {% endpalette_block %}
  </div>
{% endpalette_component %}

Then use it anywhere:

{% palette_ui "card" with title="My Card" %}

Component Slots and Overrides

Extend components without modifying them using blocks and overrides.

Named Blocks:

Define named areas in components that can be customized:

{% palette_block "header" %}
  <h1>{{ title }}</h1>
{% endpalette_block %}

Overrides:

Replace blocks when rendering:

{% palette_ui "card" %}
  {% palette_override "header" %}
    <h1 class="text-primary">Custom Title</h1>
  {% endpalette_override %}
{% endpalette_ui %}

Template Tags

Custom Django template tags for building dynamic admin interfaces.

Available Tags:

palette_component - Define a reusable component
palette_block - Define an overridable block within a component
palette_ui - Render a component with props
palette_override - Override a block when rendering

See Template Tags for detailed documentation.

Enhanced Admin Pages

All admin pages are beautifully styled and enhanced with modern UX patterns.

Change List Page:

Grid view: Responsive card layout
List view: Bootstrap table with hover effects
View toggle: Switch between grid/list (localStorage persistence)
Actions bar: Styled form for bulk actions
Search and filtering
Pagination

Change Form Page:

Responsive field layout
File upload with drag-and-drop
Image preview for uploads
Inline related objects
Error highlighting
Sticky action bar

Login Page:

Full-screen gradient background
Centered card layout
Modern form styling
Accessible form controls

Password Change:

Clean form layout
Password strength feedback
Clear instructions

Django Admin Integration

Full compatibility with Django’s admin system means you don’t lose any power.

What Works:

Django permissions system
Model admin customization
Inline relationships
Custom actions
Filters and search
All admin options

No migration needed - django-palette works alongside your existing admin setup.

Drag-and-Drop File Upload

Modern file upload interface in forms.

Features:

Drag files directly onto the zone
Click to browse and select files
Image preview for image files
File icon for non-image files
Responsive grid preview
Works with all file types

Grid/List Toggle Views

Multiple ways to view your model lists.

Grid View:

Beautiful card-based layout
Responsive auto-fill grid
Shows key information at a glance
Great for visual content

List View:

Traditional table layout
Hover effects
Easy scanning of data
Familiar to Django users

Toggle:

Easy switching with buttons
Preference saved in localStorage
Persists across sessions
No server-side storage needed

Built-in Filters

Helper filters for common admin tasks.

admin_fields Filter:

Display all fields of an object:

{% for field_name, field_value in object|admin_fields %}
  <p>{{ field_name }}: {{ field_value }}</p>
{% endfor %}

admin_field Filter:

Get a specific field:

{{ object|admin_field:"email" }}

Zero Breaking Changes

Works alongside existing Django admin - no migration pain.

Compatible With:

Django 2.2+
Python 3.7+
All Django admin customizations
Existing templates and static files
Third-party admin packages

Can be adopted gradually:

Use django-palette templates alongside Django defaults
Override specific templates only
Start with the admin interface, add custom pages later

Static Files Included

All necessary assets are included and automatically available.

Included:

Bootstrap 5 CSS and JS
Bootstrap Icons
Custom admin styling
HTMX for dynamic interactions
Select2 for enhanced selects
Responsive CSS Grid layouts
Smooth animations and transitions

No external CDN dependencies needed - everything is bundled.

Customization

Everything can be customized to match your brand.

How to Customize:

Override templates in your project’s templates/admin/ directory
Create custom components in templates/components/
Add custom CSS in your static files
Use template variables to customize content

See customization for detailed instructions.