Comments on Python Redesign

[Bengt Richter]

On Mon, 8 Sep 2003 09:13:45 +0100, "Tim Parkin" <tim.parkin at pollenationinternet.com> wrote:

>Bengt Wrote
>>It looks slick, but not really technically slick in a way
>>that would lead me to expectations about Python, just
>>eye-candy/we-spend-more-on-advertising-than-research
>>kind of slick (though for largely irrelevant photos, I
>>prefer pretty things and/or great photography ;-)
>
>What has amazed me throughout the pulling of a discussion
>Onto the Python list is the amount of furor that has been
>generated by the use of three photographs. The marketing 
>content of the website takes only 7% of the space of the
>main page. The remaining is textual navigation content.
>
Being goosed is not a matter of percentages ;-)

>If we're in a position where people hate photography then
If you take my post to mean I hate photography, then you misread.
I said, "I prefer pretty things and/or great photography."

>I think we have to accept that this is an irrational 
>problem and that it shouldn't affect the promotion of
>Python in the computer industry.
>
Emotional responses are irrational, yes, but that is what "promotion"
is about. Simply making information easily available for rational
decision-making promotes use, but that's not "promotion" in the sales
department sense of "pushing" sales.

I suspect this distinction is at the root of some of the "furor."
My concern is that Python will be "sold" on some basis other than
its many objectively solid merits.

(Of course, the merits of interest to software developers and to business executives
are not identical. Success stories will interest the latter more than metaclasses and mro.
So a single portal page for all must lead easily to resources of interest to all on first
encounter. As has been mentioned, developers will no doubt bookmark dev.python.org or whatever
becomes the main page for developers, so the home page now becomes a matter of balanced PR
and well thought out top level indexing).

Photographs of people in role settings serve to trigger identification/wannabe
responses (sometimes the role is in relation to the depicted rather than the
depicted's role). (So why don't we have a picture of a hot Victoria's-secret model as
businesswoman in a hot roadster giving a ride to an Armani-dressed(?) geek with an armload
of Python books? And maybe work in a collage of success-reward recreation resort images
for subliminal background effect? Sex, food, energy to squander -- buy it, buy it! ;-)

I'm not quite immune ;-) But what is the goal here?

>For those still commenting on the contrast issue, please
>understand that there are accessibility guidelines that
>suggest a use of 70% contrast in order to maximise readability
>for all users.
Hopefully a minor adjustment issue.

>
>These are my last comments on the comp.lang.python mailing list.
>If anyone wants to continue the disucssion and really help to
>create/promote Python, please move to either
>
I can hardly keep up with c.l.py, never mind more ;-/

>http://pythonology.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-python
>
>or
>
>http://pythonology.org/mailman/listinfo/py-design-forum
>
>The second list if it's website or design related.
>
Hope my reactions are useful data.

Regards,
Bengt Richter