One of the first projects I ever launched was the British Museum Map (BMM) project. It is a pretty simple Python app running mod_python and with data stored in a MySQL database. In it’s current form it works, but not as well as it could. I was recently pointed to this quote and feel it definitely applies here. I wanted to meet my goal launch date and get something that worked out there.

Now that I’ve had some time to look into more of the tools and solutions already available to me I’ve decided to start working on version 2.0 of the project. This time I’ll be using Django and it’s built in ‘Model-Template-View’ (MTV) pattern to build V2.0 of BMM. I’ll be detailing the whole process as I go through it, so check back over the next few weeks to see the progress as it happens.

To start with my next entry will detail the installation and initial set-up of both the virtual environment and Django packages. I’ll also give you an overview of what goes into a Django project, as well as a clearer understanding of the MTV pattern.

I hope the following entries will be helpful to any of you out there looking to start your own Django project. If you want to go ahead and get started without me though try Django’s own Poll App tutorial , though if you do decide to go ahead and get started I really recommend you check out the virtual environment package I mentioned earlier as it will save you some headaches down the line.

 If you want to see the code that goes into V2.0, check out the github repo for BMM!