[Python-Dev] revamped Python web site

[Fred L. Drake, Jr.]

Vladimir Marangozov writes:
 > 2. Use CSS -- not too much, though, given its growing but still limited
 >    support. I am using myself parts of CSS1. My approach is to use styles
 >    *and* attributes (which is redundant, for now). Browsers that understand
 >    styles would honor them, while those that don't would take into account
 >    the attributes. The aim is to have the same end result. With the evolution
 >    of the browsers, the attributes would disappear.

  The approach to CSS I've taken with the documentation is to use
attributes for anything that's really needed to make the presentation
readable and then an external CSS stylesheet for everything else.
This seems like a reasonable approach to me, and avoids including too
much duplicate information.  This also seems like the best way to
maintain support for older browsers.
  Perhaps we should collect browser statistics on python.org so we'll
know how many "legacy" browsers are in use?  I would be surprised if
many of the text-mode browsers support CSS well (and there are several
being actively worked on these days, so please don't tell me they
don't count!).

 > 4. Do not use frames, do not use JavaScript or similar, do not use anything
 >    that hurts content accessibility.

  I do have some JavaScript on python.org, but it's only to make data
entry in a form a little easier by making adjustments to related
fields, so it remains completely operational without JavaScript.  I
don't think there's currently any required JavaScript.  And I have yet
to see a frame, thank goodness!

[Eric S. Raymond]
 > 
 >  My top wishlist item is "Burn all your GIFs".

  Is it more important than accessibility?  This is a real issue for
legacy browsers, especially on minority platforms.  One of the big
wins for Python is that it is as portable as it is.  Does that matter
if information is hard to get to?
  A good reason to avoid using images for anything that isn't
cosmetic!


  -Fred

-- 
Fred L. Drake, Jr.  <fdrake at beopen.com>
BeOpen PythonLabs Team Member