Django Form Enhancement Proposal: field_css_class Attribute

Your proposal to add a Form.field_css_class attribute is a sensible enhancement to Django's form system. This would provide a cleaner way to add CSS classes to the wrapping element of form fields without needing to override Django's form templates.

Benefits of Your Approach

1. Consistency with existing patterns: It follows the same pattern as required_css_class and error_css_class, making it intuitive for developers.

2. Reduced maintenance burden: As you mentioned, it eliminates the need to override templates like django/forms/div.html, which can be difficult to maintain across Django upgrades.

3. Leverages existing functionality: It builds on the existing BoundField.css_classes mechanism, which is already documented.

Implementation Considerations

For implementation, you'd likely need to:

1. Add the field_css_class attribute to the Form class
2. Modify the BoundField.css_classes method to include this class when it's set
3. Update the relevant documentation
4. Add tests to ensure the functionality works as expected

This approach seems well-aligned with Django's design philosophy of providing simple, elegant solutions to common problems.

The ticket you've opened (#35521) is the right channel to move this forward, and referencing the previous discussions helps provide context for why this enhancement is valuable.