Kristian HansSoftware Engineer and product builderContact
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STEM Forge Africa

Official website for STEM Forge Africa Ltd, an organization advancing STEM education across the continent through competitions, programs, and international exposure. Built with Django 5.2, PostgreSQL, Tailwind CSS v4, and Gunicorn, deployed to production with full accessibility compliance.

Client
STEM Forge Africa Ltd

Django 5.2 · PostgreSQL · Gunicorn · WhiteNoise · Tailwind CSS v4 · Python 3.12 · JavaScript

01 Product overview

What the product does

STEM Forge Africa supports students through STEM programs, competitions, and international exposure. Its website explains the organization's mission, presents its programs, and handles inquiries from students, schools, and partners. The platform uses Django, PostgreSQL, Gunicorn, and Tailwind CSS.

02 Problem and context

What it needed to solve

Educational organizations operating across multiple African countries need websites that project credibility to international partners, are accessible to students on low-bandwidth connections, and are maintainable by non-technical staff. A complex JavaScript-heavy SPA would have introduced unnecessary failure points. A Django-based architecture with server-rendered pages offered reliability, performance, and straightforward content management.

03 My contribution

What I worked on

  • Designed and built the full Django application with custom models, views, and templates
  • Implemented the responsive Tailwind CSS v4 frontend with mobile-first layout and Google Fonts integration
  • Built the contact form with server-side validation and email integration
  • Configured production deployment with Gunicorn, WhiteNoise for static file serving, and PostgreSQL
  • Ensured WCAG 2.1 Level AA accessibility compliance throughout

05 Engineering and outcomes

Implementation details

System

  • Django 5.2.8 with a pages app handling four routes: home, about, programs, and contact
  • PostgreSQL in production with dj-database-url for environment-based configuration
  • Gunicorn WSGI server with WhiteNoise for zero-dependency static file serving
  • Tailwind CSS v4 compiled via the standalone CLI and Node.js build toolchain
  • Server-side rendered HTML templates with Django's template engine for fast initial load
  • Email-integrated contact form with server-side validation and CSRF protection

Verified results

  • Production-Grade DeploymentGunicorn + WhiteNoise + PostgreSQL stack deployed with proper environment separation, CSRF protection, and static asset optimization.
  • Accessibility CompliantWCAG 2.1 Level AA compliance throughout, ensuring the site is usable by students and educators regardless of device or ability.
  • Mobile-First DesignResponsive, fast-loading layout optimized for mobile users across African markets where mobile-first browsing is the norm.

Lessons

  • Django's batteries-included approach is genuinely well-suited for content-driven organizational websites. The admin, ORM, form validation, and template system remove a significant amount of boilerplate.
  • WhiteNoise makes static file serving in Django production deployments substantially simpler than configuring a separate CDN or nginx static handler.
  • Tailwind CSS v4 with Django requires the standalone CLI in the build pipeline, so deployment configuration needs to account for it from the start.