Hi everyone!
I’m Harsh Soni, and I’m exploring the Django project for GSoC 2026. I’ve been looking into the current state of the Django Admin CSS and wanted to share a small Proof of Concept (PoC) I’ve developed for UI modernization.
The Problem: Many UI constants like border-radii and shadows are hardcoded as pixel values throughout base.css, making global changes difficult.
My Approach: I have refactored a section of the core CSS to use CSS Variables (Design Tokens). By extracting these “magic numbers” into the :root element, we gain global control over the interface.
The Results: I’ve attached two screenshots showing the impact of changing just one variable.
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Before: Standard Django Admin.
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After: UI updated automatically by changing
--admin-border-radius.
I’d love to get some feedback on whether this direction aligns with the project’s goals!
