django - 404 not found error when loading static files

Question

I read the https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/howto/static-files/ multiple times and I'm pulling my hairs out. I can't load my .js and .css files. Chrome debugger keeps getting me a "404 not found" for .js and .css files. This is what is in debugger:

http://127.0.0.1:8000/meetingapp/static/css/jquery-ui-1.8.14.custom.css 404 (NOT FOUND)

This is how I call css file in my base.html template:

<link type="text/css" href="{{ STATIC_URL }}css/jquery-ui-1.8.14.custom.css" rel="stylesheet" />

I'm running a developer server:

python manage.py runserver

settings.py

STATIC_URL = 'static/'
STATICFILES_FINDERS = (
'django.contrib.staticfiles.finders.FileSystemFinder',
'django.contrib.staticfiles.finders.AppDirectoriesFinder',
#'django.contrib.staticfiles.finders.DefaultStorageFinder',
)
INSTALLED_APPS = (
'django.contrib.auth',
'django.contrib.contenttypes',
'django.contrib.sessions',
'django.contrib.sites',
'django.contrib.messages',
'django.contrib.staticfiles'
)

urls.py

urlpatterns = patterns('meetingapp.views',
(r'^meetingapp/$', 'index'),
(r'^meetingapp/calc_meetings/$', 'calc_meetings')
)

Please help me. Thanks.

Answer 1

http://127.0.0.1:8000/meetingapp/static/css/jquery-ui-1.8.14.custom.css 404 (NOT FOUND)
                      ^^^^^^^^^^^ Your problem is right here...

You see that static is usually situated in the root of your project and it tries to find in your app root. And you need to chage your main settings.py STATIC FILES setting like so:

STATIC_URL = '/static/'
             ^ add a slash here

So your Static url will be:

http://127.0.0.1:8000/static/css/jquery-ui-1.8.14.custom.css