Django Templates, integral part of Django Framework, refer to a simple text-based system that helps define the structure or layout of a file (like an HTML file) with placeholders for actual content. This template system comes loaded with Django which you can use to produce any text-based format. Taking HTML as an example, using the Django Template system, an HTML file can be templated so that the repetitive parts of the layout are coded just once, and the variable parts are represented by variables. These variables get replaced with actual content when the template is loaded with content and rendered.
The Django documentation provides detailed information about Django template language which helps achieve this. Django templates were designed to minimize complexity and enforce a clean separation between the presentation and business logic, reducing the reliance on programming contexts. Dominant aspects of Django templates include Variables, Tags, and Filters.
Variables provide the dynamic elements in templates. If you use double curly braces like {{ variable\_name }} in your template, Django substitutes it with the actual value of the variable when the template is rendered.
Tags, on the other hand, are programming constructs that provide more advanced manipulation of template content. Tags are enclosed in {% and %} delimiters and can handle loops, conditionals, and other typical programming tasks.
Filters help in modifying the value of variables for display. They are applied to variables within braces using a pipe character. For instance, the filter “upper” transforms a string into uppercase letters: {{ name|upper }}.
For example, using Django Template Language, you would create an HTML document that could resemble the following snippet:
```
You are an active user.
Please activate your account.
Here, the ‘user.name’ and ‘user.is\_active’ are variables that get replaced by contextual data when the template is being rendered.
Templates in Django can further be organized into subdirectories for better modularity and easier maintenance and can inherit from one another, eliminating redundancy and promoting re-use.
For a full coverage of templates in Django, you may refer to the official Django documentation (https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.2/topics/templates/). Other resources include Django for Beginners by William S. Vincent, Two Scoops of Django by Daniel Roy Greenfeld.
In conclusion, Django templates provide a powerful yet easy-to-use way of creating dynamic, re-usable and organized patterns for repetitive HTML, XML, or other text-based content structures in web development.
