[pydotorg-www] project plan (python.org and navigation)

[Paul Boddie]

On Sunday 25 April 2010 14:36:01 David Goodger wrote:
>
> No, Paul misrepresents reST here. Tables are integral to reST,
> expressible in multiple ways:
> grid tables:
> 
http://docutils.sourceforge.net/docs/ref/rst/restructuredtext.html#grid-tables
> simple tables: 
> 
http://docutils.sourceforge.net/docs/ref/rst/restructuredtext.html#simple-tables
> CSV table directive: 
> http://docutils.sourceforge.net/docs/ref/rst/directives.html#id1
> List table directive:
> http://docutils.sourceforge.net/docs/ref/rst/directives.html#list-table

My apologies for selling reST short. I'm not a huge fan of MoinMoin's table 
markup (or MediaWiki's for that matter, although it has its advantages), but 
it offers (indeed, they both offer) a decent compromise between plain 
text "effects" and minimal magic when interpreting what people have written. 
In contrast, the "simple tables" of reST are likely to be something that many 
people would only attempt to write out the first time and very quickly become 
tired of having to keep them updated.

MediaWiki's markup is largely inferior to MoinMoin's, as far as I have 
experienced, but its table syntax has certain benefits in permitting 
individual cells to be written on their own line. This reduces the amount of 
menial formatting work that fancier table representations often demand, 
driving people (as I noted) to just writing things out in simpler notations 
and thus using less appropriate visual representations.

[python.org's history]

> You seem to be under the impression that somebody will magically do
> this work for you. Won't happen.

Although I think Anatoly sometimes asks a bit much, it's difficult even for 
people like me who have experienced the evolution of the site since the 
mid-1990s to remember what changed and when, and it's unfortunate that the 
details of that evolution are spread out across several places and need 
gathering together again. Certainly, any discussions about the changes as 
they happened are important in order to review what was done, what people 
didn't like, what people probably still don't like, and to avoid making any 
similar mistakes again.

Paul