[Pydotorg-redesign] Rearranging the python.org sidebar (again!)

[Matt Goodall]

A.M. Kuchling wrote:

> IDE is another acronym, so it's not clear that it'll be any more 
> understandable for a newbie. 

I would imagine all newbies will know IDE, in fact it's probably **all** 
they know ;-). Besides, if they don't know what an IDE is then they 
probably wouldn't know what an Integrated Development Environment was 
either.

> However, /idle/ doesn't really contain a lot of material, so maybe 
> dropping the IDLE link is OK; I've done that in my current draft.  
> I've also shortened the content on the main page a bit. 

If IDLE is not listed with other features features already then it 
should be. The interactive shell and IDLE are very useful tools.

>> As an aside, I really think that the top-left part of the nav needs 
>> to be **completely** set aside for finding out about Python, 
>> particularly for welcoming beginners.
>
>
> Suggest a set of beginner's links and we can try it.  (But Kevin 
> reported that many users go to python.org for documentation; the 
> current link arrangement therefore has version and documentation links 
> in the upper left corner.) 

See the "About" group in 
http://www.pollenation.net/assets/public/index_rounded.html or 
http://www.pollenation.net/assets/public/design2.gif. Yes, it's the menu 
is quite different but just getting some of that navigation into the 
current design would be good.

> Incidentally, I received an anecdotal report from one of my SO's 
> co-workers that it's really annoying when the 'Python' icon in the 
> upper left-hand corner is actually unreadable.  (e.g. one is in the 
> Wingdings fonts, so it's just a bunch of symbols.)  Anyone want to go 
> through the icons and discard the offending ones? 

Whoever decided to have rotating images, please put on your flameproof 
clothing now ;-) ...

I have always thought having changing images was a terrible idea, never 
mind the fact that some are unreadable. Python needs a bit more branding 
and that means _one_ nice looking logo in the same place on every page. 
The same image should appear in all the documentation and any HTML press 
releases too.

- Matt

-- 
Matt Goodall, Pollenation Internet Ltd
w: http://www.pollenationinternet.com
e: matt at pollenation.net