Features¶

Lino is a framework within the Django framework. It enters Django through your settings.py file. Deploying a Lino site is like deploying a Django project.

But an application, in Lino, is much more than what Django calls an “application”. A Lino application is an out-of-the box Django project. Because Lino applications are Django projects, the well-known Django features also apply to Lino:

You define your database models as in Django
Internationalization works as in Django

Lino then adds its own features to the above:

An out-of-the-box front end. Application developers should focus on data structures and applications logic, not waste their time writing HTML, Javascript or CSS. (Nothing against the developers of these technologies! Lino relies on their work!)

Separate business logic and front end is one of Lino’s design goals.
Layouts: Lino applications use the Python language not only for designing your models but also your forms.
With Lino you define also your permissions and workflows in Python.
Lino applications have a good support for managing multilingual database content.
Lino provides tools for generating multilingual end-user documentation.
Lino includes The Python serializer, a great alternative to Django’s built-in migration system to manage your database migrations.
Lino comes with a nice way for handling Polymorphism.
Lino includes Lino Extensions Library, a collection of reusable plugins for all kinds of Lino applications.