Create Forms With Django Crispy Forms

As a Python developer, I’ve seen how important clean, maintainable, and user-friendly forms are in web applications. Django’s built-in forms can sometimes be a bit clunky when it comes to styling and responsiveness. That’s where Django Crispy Forms comes in.

In this article, I’ll walk you through how to create forms using Django Crispy Forms. Whether you’re building a contact form, a user registration form, or any data collection form, this guide will help you make it look professional with minimal effort.

Let’s get in!

Table of Contents

What are Django Crispy Forms?

Django Crispy Forms is a third-party package that helps you control the rendering behavior of Django forms using Python code instead of writing HTML manually. It integrates seamlessly with popular CSS frameworks like Bootstrap, making your forms responsive and visually appealing.

From my experience, using Crispy Forms saves tons of time and reduces boilerplate code. Plus, it keeps your templates clean and easy to maintain.

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How to Set Up Django Crispy Forms

Before we dive into code, let me show you how to set up Crispy Forms in your Django project.

Step 1: Install Django Crispy Forms

Open your terminal and run:

pip install django-crispy-forms

Step 2: Add to Installed Apps

In your settings.py, add 'crispy_forms' to your INSTALLED_APPS list:

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    # other apps
    'crispy_forms',
]

Step 3: Configure Crispy Template Pack

Still in settings.py, set the template pack to Bootstrap 4 or 5 (Bootstrap 5 is recommended for new projects):

CRISPY_TEMPLATE_PACK = 'bootstrap5'

I executed the above example code and added the screenshot below.

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Create a Simple Contact Form Using Django Crispy Forms

Let me show you a real-world example — a contact form for a small USA-based business website.

Step 1: Define Your Form

Create a new file forms.py in your app directory and add:

from django import forms
from crispy_forms.helper import FormHelper
from crispy_forms.layout import Submit

class ContactForm(forms.Form):
    name = forms.CharField(max_length=100, label='Full Name')
    email = forms.EmailField(label='Email Address')
    message = forms.CharField(widget=forms.Textarea, label='Your Message')

    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
        super().__init__(*args, **kwargs)
        self.helper = FormHelper()
        self.helper.form_method = 'post'
        self.helper.add_input(Submit('submit', 'Send Message'))

Here, the FormHelper class from Crispy Forms lets us control how the form renders. We set the form method to POST and add a submit button labeled “Send Message.”

Step 2: Create a View to Handle the Form

In your views.py:

from django.shortcuts import render, redirect
from .forms import ContactForm

def contact_view(request):
    if request.method == 'POST':
        form = ContactForm(request.POST)
        if form.is_valid():
            # Process form data here (e.g., send email or save to DB)
            # For this example, let's just redirect to a thank you page
            return redirect('thank_you')
    else:
        form = ContactForm()
    return render(request, 'contact.html', {'form': form})

Step 3: Create the Template

Create a contact.html file inside your templates directory:

{% load crispy_forms_tags %}
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8" />
    <title>Contact Us</title>
    <link href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/bootstrap@5.3.0/dist/css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet" />
</head>
<body>
<div class="container mt-5">
    <h2>Contact Us</h2>
    <form method="post" novalidate>
        {% csrf_token %}
        {{ form|crispy }}
    </form>
</div>
</body>
</html>

The {{ form|crispy }} tag is what renders the form with all the Bootstrap styling automatically.

Step 4: Add URL Pattern

In your app’s urls.py:

from django.urls import path
from .views import contact_view

urlpatterns = [
    path('contact/', contact_view, name='contact'),
    path('thank-you/', TemplateView.as_view(template_name='thank_you.html'), name='thank_you'),
]

I executed the above example code and added the screenshot below.

Create a simple thank_you.html template to confirm form submission.

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Alternative Method: Using ModelForm with Crispy Forms

If you want to create forms tied to Django models, Crispy Forms works perfectly with ModelForm as well.

Here’s how I usually do it:

Step 1: Define a Model

from django.db import models

class CustomerInquiry(models.Model):
    name = models.CharField(max_length=100)
    email = models.EmailField()
    message = models.TextField()
    submitted_at = models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True)

Step 2: Create a ModelForm

from django import forms
from crispy_forms.helper import FormHelper
from crispy_forms.layout import Submit
from .models import CustomerInquiry

class CustomerInquiryForm(forms.ModelForm):
    class Meta:
        model = CustomerInquiry
        fields = ['name', 'email', 'message']

    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
        super().__init__(*args, **kwargs)
        self.helper = FormHelper()
        self.helper.form_method = 'post'
        self.helper.add_input(Submit('submit', 'Submit Inquiry'))

Step 3: Use the Form in Views and Templates

The process is the same as the manual form example above: instantiate the form, validate, save, and render with {{ form|crispy }}.

This method is great when you want to save form data directly to your database without extra manual handling.

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Tips from My Experience

Always use CRISPY_TEMPLATE_PACK = 'bootstrap5' for modern Bootstrap styling.
Use the FormHelper to customize buttons, form tags, and layouts.
If you want custom layouts (like grouping fields horizontally or adding HTML elements), Crispy Forms supports that with layout objects like Row, Column, and Div.
Remember to include {% load crispy_forms_tags %} at the top of your templates.
For large forms, split them into smaller sub-forms or use tabs for better UX.

Creating forms with Django Crispy Forms has significantly simplified how I build and style forms in Django projects. It saves time, reduces errors, and produces professional results without wrestling with HTML.

If you’re working on a Django project and want your forms to look good and behave responsively, give Crispy Forms a try. It’s a small addition that makes a big difference.

If you want to dive deeper, the official documentation and community examples are excellent resources to explore more advanced features.

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Bijay Kumar

I am Bijay Kumar, a Microsoft MVP in SharePoint. Apart from SharePoint, I started working on Python, Machine learning, and artificial intelligence for the last 5 years. During this time I got expertise in various Python libraries also like Tkinter, Pandas, NumPy, Turtle, Django, Matplotlib, Tensorflow, Scipy, Scikit-Learn, etc… for various clients in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, etc. Check out my profile.

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Create Forms with Django Crispy Forms