Developing Websites using Python: Choose the best framework

Can you make a good website using Python, and how easy is the process?

You make websites and web applications using Python web frameworks that include Django, Flask, Dash, Hug, Falcon, Bottle, CherryPy, and Dash. A web framework helps you develop web applications without considering initial development requirements such as socket programming.

The majority of the functionality of web frameworks comes in the form of modules that allows you to develop business logic without worrying about complicated web application setup.

My dear reader, or (how do I call you), Coder? Programmer? Well, let me not give you some labels.

You want to know if you can develop websites using Python. Or, maybe you have just started learning Python. Maybe, it has come to that dreadful moment where you start to ask yourself (? is this coding thing for me?). Or, you are just passing by.

Whatever reason you are here, you want to know if you could get some web development jobs if you have some Python skills. Well, it depends on where you are, Pythonically!

You can develop simple websites using Flask.

Ideally, Flask is a lightweight Python Web framework that provides you with all the tools needed to create web applications using Python. The good thing about Flask is that it does not get too complex. You can even use one Python file to create a whole website.

If you are new to web development or Python, Flask would be a great Python web framework you can start to learn. If you know how functions and classes work, some basic HTML, and CSS, you should be able to create websites using Python.

If you are more of an advanced Python user or looking forward to it, you should start learning Django. Well, if you know much about functions, classes, packages, and libraries used in Python, you should be using Django already.

Why you would use the Python Django web framework to develop websites?

Django is a high-level Python web framework that allows you to develop web applications using the rapid development fashion.

You create huge web applications within the least time possible without compromising the security and maintainability of your web application.

You do not have to reinvent the wheel when you develop websites using Django. It provides you with a ready-made template that you can use to customize to fit the business logic.

On top of that, Django is suitable for web development because it is easy to spin up database-driven websites within no time. Whether you are using PostgreSQL, MySQL, or MariaDB, Django officially supports these databases.

Is Django easy to learn?

It depends.

If you have strong Python fundamentals knowledge, especially classes and object-oriented programming, Django can be straightforward to learn.

So, if you want to make it easy to learn this beautiful web framework, take your time learning Python basics and intermediate concepts. Understand how classes and functions work, what inheritance is, and how to develop your Python packages.

After that, dive right into Django. Don’t learn everything! That’s a form of procrastination.

Check out this resource page containing all the books and courses that teach you all you need to become an effective programmer.

Which framework is best for web development using Python?

Django is the best Python web framework you could use to develop high-performance web applications.

I mean, there are a ton of reasons to choose Django for web development:

1. Using Django provides you with access to a great of libraries
2. Django encourages rapid development
3. Django encourages the DRY principle. You do not have to keep rewriting code for functionality that you can reuse throughout the web application.
4. When it comes to Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Django is the best option. You can easily set up a Django blog and sitemap, use friendly URLs through SlugField, and easily create redirects. Check this Django sitemap article.
5. Fast processing. Django is ideal as an application server.
6. Django is scalable

Although I am good at “rooting for Django,” it doesn’t mean that there are other Python Web frameworks that aren’t great for web development. There are many of them: Flask, Dash, Hug, Falcon, Bottle, CherryPy, and Dash.

But taste! mm-hmmm

Django is a little bit faster!

All right, let’s get you started with a new Django project.

Open the Terminal and type the following:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install python3 python3-pip

The commands above update your system and install the latest Python version.

Next, type:

sudo apt install virtualenv 

The command above installs virtualenv that you will use to create new virtual environments to install Django and its dependencies.

Create a new folder to store all your environment variables and create one for your new Django project.

mkdir ~/.virtualenvs      

python3 -m venv ~/.virtualenvs/new-django-env  

Type the following to activate the virtual environment and install Django:

source ~/.virtualenvs/new-django-env/bin/activate

pip3 install django

After installing Django, let’s create a new Django project.

Create a new directory to store all your Django files

cd ~/Desktop && mkdir new_django_project 

cd ~/Desktop/new_django_project

Start a new project

django-admin startproject myNewProject .

After successfully creating a new Django project, open the project’s folder with your favorite IDE or editor to start creating the next beautiful web application.

Run

python manage.py runserver

Open 127.0.0.1:8000 in your browser and you should see that Django has been successfully installed.

Go ahead and tweak your web application and deploy it for the world to see.

Conclusion

Python is a great programming language to start with especially when you are new to the world of programming. If you want to follow a web development career, Python provides you with various web frameworks to get started. These web frameworks include but are not limited to Django, Flask, and CherryPy. If you want to develop fast, scalable, and reliable websites, Python Django is the best framework to choose for your web development career.

That’s it for this article. See you next time.