A template python static website using the ONS design system

Before continuing, install the following tools:

Homebrew: Follow the instructions on this page

Python: To install the correct version of python on your local system, check the pyproject.toml and then install the relevant version.

You will need to install poetry to install the python dependencies. If you want to manage multiple versions of python you will need to install pyenv.

Refer to the confluence page for guidance on installing and using pyenv.

You will also need to have installed wget to fetch the ONS Design System.

Download the release of the ONS Design System, and unpack them into the correct location with this command:

./get_design_system.sh

You will need to install the python dependencies, including Frozen-Flask, the static website generator:

poetry install

You can activate your virtual environment with the following command:

poetry shell

With Jsonnet content in the content/ directory, you should now be able to run the Flask demo server:

poetry run flask --app static_website_builder --debug run

If everything runs without errors, you should now be able to navigate to http://127.0.0.1:5000/ to view the site.

To run the linters (Pylint & Flake8) and security scan (Bandit):

sudo ./run_py_tools.sh

• One common cause of this error message is not having uploaded your site yet.
• Are you coming from a non-UK IP address, possibly due to a VPN being active? If so, switch this off and try again. Geographical restrictions are in place.

If you have any errors running the web app or any other errors, it maybe because of issues relating to your latest macOS version and Xcode command line tools installed. You can try the command below where you will remove and reinstall Xcode command line tools:

sudo rm -rf /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools
xcode-select --install
/usr/bin/xcodebuild -version

If you experience any problems launching the application check the version of macOS installed, as problems can arise if you are using macOS Monterey and following versions uses port 5000 for its control center causing a conflict.

If another program is already using port 5000, you may see the error OSError: [Errno 98] or OSError: [WinError 10013] when the server tries to start.

In this case run the following command, replacing it with the port you want the web app to run on, so that the application is launched on a different port.

poetry run flask --app static_website_builder --debug run --port=8000