Sharing Only Template Files with Third-Party Designers

Based on Django's template system design philosophy, which emphasizes separating logic from presentation, your approach to share only template files with third-party designers aligns well with Django's principles.

Possible Approaches

1. Project Structure Separation

Django's template system is designed to be decoupled from the backend logic, which makes your goal achievable. You can:

• Create a separate repository that contains only the template files
• Include your base.html and any other template inheritance files
• Document the context variables that will be available to each template

2. Template Documentation

Since your templates use inheritance with {% extends "base.html" %}, make sure to:

• Include the base.html template in what you share
• Document the blocks available for overriding
• Provide sample context data that templates will receive

3. Collaboration Options

Here are some practical ways to implement this:

project/
├── templates/
│   ├── base.html
│   ├── shared_templates/
│   │   ├── template1.html
│   │   ├── template2.html
│   │   └── ...
│   └── documentation.md
└── sample_context/
    ├── template1_context.json
    └── template2_context.json

Best Practices

1. Documentation: Provide clear documentation about:

   • Available template blocks
   • Context variables that will be available
   • Any custom template tags or filters they should use

2. Sample Data: Include sample JSON files that represent the context each template will receive

3. Style Guide: Include any CSS frameworks or design systems you're using

4. Static Files: Include necessary static files (CSS, JS, images) that templates depend on

5. Version Control: Use a separate Git repository for just the templates, or use Git submodules

This approach follows Django's template philosophy of keeping presentation separate from logic while allowing designers to focus solely on the template files they need to modify.