Installation

If you're doing the tutorial at home

If you're doing the tutorial at home, not at one of the Django Girls events, you can completely skip this chapter now and go straight to the How the Internet works chapter.

This is because we cover installing things as they are needed in the tutorial -- this is just an additional page that gathers all of the installation instructions in one place (which is useful for some workshop formats). You can choose to install everything that is on this page right now if you wish. But if you want to start learning things before installing a bunch of stuff on your computer, skip this chapter and we will explain the installation parts to you later on, as they are needed.

Good luck!

If you're attending a workshop

If you are attending one of the Django Girls events:

• Your workshop may have an "installation party" before the main workshop. If you are at an installation party, this page is for you! Follow the instructions here to get everything you need for the workshop installed, with the help of the coaches if needed. Then at the main workshop, you'll be able to skip installation instructions you'll encounter in the main tutorial when you get to them.

• The organizers of your workshop may have asked you to try at home to install everything on your computer before the workshop starts. If you have been asked to do that, this page is for you! Follow the instructions here, as best you can. Then at the main workshop, when you get to an installation step in the main tutorial, if you were not able to get that piece installed you can get help from your coach.

• If your workshop does not have an installation party (or you couldn't attend), and if the organizers didn't ask you to try to install everything before you arrived, skip this page and go straight to the How the Internet works chapter. You'll be installing everything you need as you work through the tutorial.

Installation

In this tutorial you will be building a blog. In order to do that, as you go through the tutorial you'll be instructed on how to install various software on your computer and set up some online accounts as they are needed. This page gathers all of the installation and sign-up instructions in one place (which is useful for some workshop formats).

Brief intro to the command line

Many of the steps below reference the "console", "terminal", "command window", or "command line" -- these all mean the same thing: a window on your computer where you can enter commands. When you get to the main tutorial, you'll learn more about the command line. For now, the main thing you need to know is how to open a command window and what it looks like:

Install Python

Install a code editor

Set up virtualenv and install Django

Install Git

Create a GitHub account

Go to GitHub.com and sign up for a new, free user account. Be sure to remember your password (add it to your password manager, if you use one).

Create a PythonAnywhere account

Start reading

Congratulations, you are all set up and ready to go! If you still have some time before the workshop, it would be useful to start reading a few of the beginning chapters:

• How the internet works
• Introduction to the command line
• Introduction to Python
• What is Django?

Enjoy the workshop!

When you begin the workshop, you'll be able to go straight to Your first Django project! because you already covered the material in the earlier chapters.