[Doc-SIG] Moving language and version switchers out of cpython

[Ned Deily]

On Jun 4, 2020, at 19:12, Julien Palard <julien at palard.fr> wrote:
> It can be enhanced by a clearer separation:
> 
> - cpython Doc/ would build a simple standalone documentation, without 
> switchers.
> - docsbuild-script would be responsible to add the switchers.

I like this idea a lot.  It's a pain to have update each branch's
switcher and then they eventually go out-of-date.

> Pro: We do no longer need to keep an up-to-date list of languages and 
> version in all cpython branches, a single commit in docsbuild-scripts 
> would update all switchers.
> 
> Con: Maybe, somewhere, someone is building a private version of 
> docs.python.org, without docsbuild-script, and will be sad to see the 
> switchers disapear. The probablility is low as they would have to have 
> the same URLs as us (/{language}/{version}/), the same languages, and 
> the same versions build, as all is imposed by switchers.js.

As far as I'm aware, all of the docssets produced by release managers
and binary builders (to be packaged in binary installers) are always
just for a single version in English.  So none use the switcher today.

I'm not sure what you are suggesting replacing the index sidebar with
for the standalone build.  But perhaps rather than the current links to
and status of recent branches, it could have a few generic links to
the docs on the website, something like:

stable -> https://docs.python.org/
in development -> https://docs.python.org/dev/
all versions -> https://www.python.org/doc/versions/
more resources -> https://www.python.org/doc/

--
  Ned Deily
  nad at python.org -- []