[Pythonmac-SIG] New Page, first proposal

[Charles Hartman]

OK, here's the first donkey -- please step up to the line & fire when  
ready.

The project is to build a new front page for pythonmac.org that will  
serve as a welcome and introduction for anyone who wants to write  
Python programs on the Mac. (An assumption behind this is that the  
site will come up quickly in any curious person's search for  
information on the topic, which in turn assumes a link from  
python.org, and also I hope a prominent one slapped onto the top of  
the MacPython site.)

For a page title that covers the ground broadly and accurately, I  
propose
		Python on the Mac
Problems with that? Better suggestions?

Four stages in the project are foreseeable:
	1. Establish the basic organization of the page
	2. Collect the essential technical data, and probably also less  
essential materials
		to be relegated to secondary pages
	3. Produce some friendly prose
	4. Build the html for the page

#4 is fun, and I wouldn't mind doing it in DreamWeaver if nobody else  
has better tools and skills. #3 is easy enough, though checking it  
for accuracy needs to be a community effort. I am not competent to do  
#2, but this list is full of people who are.

Here I'm proposing an approach to #1. I suggest the page be organized  
by audience, and that it begin by addressing the needs of users most  
in danger of being scared off. (Obviously what follows is not the  
friendly-prose stage -- just a stab at a logical organization.)

===== the Python-on-the-Mac page =======================

[1] "If you're a Mac user who wants to learn to write Python programs":
	note Apple distro, be politely disparaging toward it, provide links to
		Bob's framework, with notes (how extensive is this?) on other stuff  
required
		ActiveState's framework, with similar notes
	provide links to
		how-to-program sites
		how-to-program-in-Python sites
		how-to-program-for-the-Mac sites

[2] "If you want an editor or full-fledged IDE (rather than using the  
Terminal)":
	provide links, with brief descriptions, to
		Wing IDE
		BBEdit/TextWrangler
		??
	discuss briefly the non-terrors of working in the Terminal

[3] "If you want to write programs with windows and buttons":
	discuss why libraries would be helpful
	provide links, with brief descriptions, to
		wxPython
		TKinter
		??

[4] "If your programs need other specialized tools":
	provide links, with brief descriptions, to
		PIL
		Numeric
		SciPy

[5] "If you want to write C (or other) extensions, or embed Python,  
or …":
	Describe the current state of considerations about target Mac system  
(10.3, 10.4,
		Intel)
	Provide links to
		PyObjC
		??

=========================================

A couple of questions right off the bat:

1. I'm not at all clear whether it's necessary to address the  
question of platform (is the user running 10.3 or 10.4? does the sub- 
version matter?) before that last, extensions stage. How many  
packages under [3] or [4], for example, require a certain OS version?  
If we don't need to address this before [5] (whose audience won't  
have trouble with it), that's very very good: it saves a lot of  
combinatoric mess. If we do, then can it be a sidebar on the page?  
How much of a decision tree is there, or does there have to be?

2. Would it be legitimate to start the page off with a little list of  
things to do for those who get worried by too many choices? For me,  
the list would be (1) get Bob's framework (2) pick and install an IDE  
(3) go get one of the following books or read the following  
instructional sites. Beginning with a list seems too arbitrary. But  
it really mustn't take the reader long to deduce that last for  
herself/himself.

3. Once this sketch is fleshed out fully enough to be not misleading,  
I fear that keeping it on a single page may get cumbersome. If that  
happens, do we prefer a couple of sequential pages ("Next…") or some  
kind of branch? A hard question before we get there -- but the kind  
of thing that it would be helpful to decide early, for reasons don't  
have to explain to programmers, though I have to explain them to my  
students frequently.

Charles

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