# CSS files won't load **URL:** \ **Category:** Mystery Errors\ **Created:** [December 10, 2022, 5:58am UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/css-files-wont-load/17540 "2022-12-10T05:58:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mariostg](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/mariostg/32/10901_2.png) [@mariostg](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/mariostg)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2022, 5:58am UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/css-files-wont-load/17540/1 "2022-12-10T05:58:58Z")
I have no idea what I can be missing. Relevant portion of setting.py, running MacOS Ventura|Montgomery,python3.10, django4.1.3 ```auto DEBUG = True INSTALLED_APPS = [ 'django.contrib.admin', 'django.contrib.auth', 'django.contrib.contenttypes', 'django.contrib.sessions', 'django.contrib.messages', 'django.contrib.staticfiles', 'geographie', 'habitat', 'siteornitho', 'debug_toolbar' ] STATIC_URL = '/static/' #with or without slash at beginning STATIC_ROOT = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'static') # STATICFILES_DIRS=[ # "siteornitho/static" # ] MEDIA_ROOT = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'media') MEDIA_URL = '/media/' ``` base.html ```auto {% load static %} Document ``` Static Structure populated by mange.py collectstatic ```auto static ├── admin │ ├── css │ │ ├── autocomplete.css │ │ ├── base.css │ │ ├── changelists.css │ │ ├── dark_mode.css │ │ ├── dashboard.css │ │ ├── fonts.css │ │ ├── forms.css │ │ ├── login.css │ │ ├── nav_sidebar.css │ │ ├── responsive.css │ │ ├── responsive_rtl.css │ │ ├── rtl.css │ │ ├── vendor │ │ └── widgets.css ├── debug_toolbar │ ├── css │ │ ├── print.css │ │ └── toolbar.css └── siteornitho ├── css │ ├── fiche.css │ └── main.css ``` [http://127.0.0.1:8000/static/admin/css/base.css](http://127.0.0.1:8000/static/admin/css/base.css) WORKS [http://127.0.0.1:8000/static/siteornitho/css/main.css](http://127.0.0.1:8000/static/siteornitho/css/main.css) NOT FOUND [http://127.0.0.1:8000/static/siteornitho/css/fiche.css](http://127.0.0.1:8000/static/siteornitho/css/fiche.css) NOT FOUND [http://127.0.0.1:8000/media/siteornitho/images/2022-10-24-16-03-40.JPG](http://127.0.0.1:8000/media/siteornitho/images/2022-10-24-16-03-40.JPG) WORKS ---
**Author:** ![KenWhitesell](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/kenwhitesell/32/280_2.png) [@KenWhitesell](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/KenWhitesell)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2022, 1:12pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/css-files-wont-load/17540/2 "2022-12-10T13:12:25Z")
How are you running this? (Are you testing using runserver, or some other server?) What is your `DEBUG` setting? You show your `STATICFILES_DIRS` setting as being commented out, why? ---
**Author:** ![mariostg](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/mariostg/32/10901_2.png) [@mariostg](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/mariostg)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2022, 1:37pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/css-files-wont-load/17540/3 "2022-12-10T13:37:14Z")
@KenWhitesell. Using runserver. As indicated above, DEBUG=True. I commented out STATICFILES\_DIRS after I ran collectstatic to see what difference it would make. ---
**Author:** ![KenWhitesell](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/kenwhitesell/32/280_2.png) [@KenWhitesell](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/KenWhitesell)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2022, 2:45pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/css-files-wont-load/17540/4 "2022-12-10T14:45:58Z")
The runserver does not automatically serve static files from where collectstatic copies files. It serves files from the directories that STATICFILES\_DIRS specifies. If you want to serve files from your STATIC\_ROOT directory, then you need to add STATIC\_ROOT to STATICFILES\_DIRS. See [The staticfiles app | Django documentation | Django](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/4.1/ref/contrib/staticfiles/) and [Settings | Django documentation | Django](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/4.1/ref/settings/#staticfiles-dirs) for more detailed information. ---
**Author:** ![mariostg](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/mariostg/32/10901_2.png) [@mariostg](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/mariostg)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2022, 1:27am UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/css-files-wont-load/17540/5 "2022-12-11T01:27:49Z")
Well, what I uderstand of STATICFILES\_DIR as I read again this section [How to manage static files (e.g. images, JavaScript, CSS) | Django documentation | Django](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/4.1/howto/static-files/#configuring-static-files) is that if I don’t have static files outside my apps I don’t have to specify anything in it. Hence I set STATICFILES\_DIR= According to above link: 1. I have django.contrib.staticfiles in INSTALLED\_APPS 2. I have STATIC\_URL = ‘static/’ 3. - am using the static template tag in my base.html file 4. I reorganized the folder structure inside the siteornitho app like the tree below as suggested in bullet 4 of Configuring Static Files section ```auto siteornitho app ├── static │ └── siteornitho │ └── css │ ├── fiche.css │ └── main.css ``` In light of all this. as far as it goes for serving my files by runserver it should be ok since DEBUG is true and django.contrib.staticfiles is in INSTALLED\_APPS Regarding your comment about adding STATIC\_ROOT inside STATICFILES\_DIR, when I do this: ```auto STATIC_URL = 'static/' STATIC_ROOT = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'static') STATICFILES_DIRS=[STATIC_ROOT] ``` it throws an error: django.core.management.base.SystemCheckError: SystemCheckError: System check identified some issues: **ERRORS:** **?: (staticfiles.E002) The STATICFILES\_DIRS setting should not contain the STATIC\_ROOT setting.** WARNINGS: ?: (staticfiles.W004) The directory ‘/Users/mariost-gelais/Documents/programming/python/guidedessites/static’ in the STATICFILES\_DIRS setting does not exist. Anyway, serving files from STATIC\_ROOT directory is not necessary until I can at least serve some css ---
**Author:** ![KenWhitesell](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/kenwhitesell/32/280_2.png) [@KenWhitesell](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/KenWhitesell)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2022, 2:37am UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/css-files-wont-load/17540/6 "2022-12-11T02:37:51Z")
Ok, let’s take a step back. First a side note: Serving static files in development is completely different than serving static files in production. As a general rule, STATIC\_ROOT should be completely outside your project. In a production environment, Django will not be serving those files and shouldn’t have access to them. As a result, while I’m surprised by that error message, it does make sense. In development, it’s the staticfiles app that serves static files. This means that the only settings that matter are [STATIC\_URL](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/4.1/ref/settings/#static-url), [STATICFILES\_FINDERS](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/4.1/ref/settings/#staticfiles-finders), and [STATICFILES\_DIRS](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/4.1/ref/settings/#staticfiles-dirs) (if the finder is configured). The STATIC\_URL is the prefix used for static files. You have STATIC\_URL = ‘static/’, which means that any url requested as `static/whatever/file.xxx` is going to look for the file named `file.xxx` in a directory named `whatever` in _any_ of the directories defined in STATICFILES\_DIRS (if `FileSystemFinder` is defined in the finders) and in the `static` directory of each app (if `AppDirectoriesFinder` is defined). So, based on what I’m understanding from what I’m seeing so far, you have an app named `siteornitho`, with a file in that app in a directory structure `static/siteornitho/css/main.css`. If you have STATICFILES\_FINDERS configured with the `AppDirectoriesFinder` (which I don’t see) along with the `staticfiles` app (which I do see), along with the static reference to `siteornitho/css/main.css` (which I also see), then this _should_ work. (It works for me using these names in my test system.) Note, you can test access to static files using the [`findstatic`](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/4.1/ref/contrib/staticfiles/#findstatic) command. ---
**Author:** ![mariostg](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/mariostg/32/10901_2.png) [@mariostg](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/mariostg)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2022, 3:50am UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/css-files-wont-load/17540/7 "2022-12-12T03:50:30Z")
I took several steps back after reading your feedback. Back to square one, I returned to the django tutorial and git cloned it. The settings in this project are very basic for handling of static files: –STATIC\_URL = ‘/static/’ and –‘django.contrib.staticfiles’ in INSTALLED\_APPS –project has a folder /polls/static/polls that holds style.css. This is all working fine. So I mimicked this on one of the app in my project. Still not working. Then I realized I had DEBUG=False. I don’t recall having switched this to false. So bizarre but pretty much a week-end wasted. On the positive, it forced me to read and read again the docs. Thanks for your time Ken.