Static Pages Development Notes
Models
StaticPageNav stores menu categories. use_category_url shortcuts the category click to a custom url. nav_element defines ordering.StaticPage is the CKEditor-backed page content. members_only gates access, and slug is unique (max 50 chars). update() stamps modified_time.StaticUrl represents dropdown entries linked to a StaticPageNav. logged_in_only hides links from anonymous users, and dropdown_element controls ordering for the admin ordering widget.
Views & Routing
StaticPageView (staticpages/views.py) is the only view. It loads the page by slug, checks members_only, and either renders staticpages/staticpage.html or redirects unauthenticated users to /members/login.- Navigation menus are built in templates using
StaticPageNav + StaticUrl; staticpages.context_processors injects both querysets into every template.
- Language-aware internal links should go through the
localized_url template filter (staticpages/templatetags/localized_urls.py) so stored URLs keep the current locale prefix when language features are enabled.
- Routes are wrapped by the shared localized URL builder in
core/urls/common.py, so static pages can live under language prefixes without duplicating route declarations.
Admin/Ordering
StaticPageNavAdmin allows inline management of StaticUrl rows using admin-ordering. Dragging rows updates the dropdown_element.StaticPageAdmin lists pages with members_only badge for quick auditing.
Extending the App
- Distinguish between external URLs and internal paths when adding menu links. External URLs should remain absolute; internal paths should stay relative so
localized_url can rewrite them.
- If you add more visibility rules, update both the model fields and the shared navigation template logic together.
- To add versioning, introduce a
StaticPageRevision model storing snapshots when update() runs.
- To support scheduling, add
publish_at/unpublish_at fields and filter in the view before rendering.
- Consider caching navigation structures if menu lookups become expensive; currently everything hits the database on each request.