[Python-Dev] Aligning the packaging.python.org theme with the rest of the docs (original) (raw)

Antoine Pitrou solipsis at pitrou.net
Sun May 28 07:42:12 EDT 2017

On Sat, 27 May 2017 14:26:54 +1000 Nick Coghlan <ncoghlan at gmail.com> wrote:

Thoughts? Should we stick with pypa-theme as the name? Switch to psf-docs-theme? Publish both, with pypa-theme adding PyPA specific elements to a more general psf-docs-theme? [...] Future requests to use the theme (beyond CPython and the PyPA) could then be run through the PSF Trademarks committee, as with requests to use the registered marks.

Did you consider that whoever designed the theme might not agree with such a drastic policy change? You should first get their agreement for this. And what about derived works (which probably do exist already)?

I don't know what the current legal situation for the theme is. I'm assuming it's licensed under an open source license (or perhaps implicitly believed to be so, which would be embarassing). If that's the case, I'm opposed to requiring that previously freely-reusable resources now need to get through a case-by-case approval process. This is at odds with the principles of free and open source software.

(by the way I don't think that Alabaster is really comparable. "High contrast" isn't the only concern here. It's actually difficult to find a theme that ticks all the boxes in terms of being able to emphasize structure, having a sensible colour theme, displaying long-winded doc pages in a compact and readable form, etc.)

Alternatively, you could have the PSF commission a designer and produce a truly specific theme for "official" Python docs. But perhaps that would be trying to solve a problem that does not truly exist (that is, that people would judge a third-party doc "official" just because it reuses the same grey-ish Sphinx theme).

Or you could deem the use of the trademark-protected Python logo sufficient to denote "official" docs (which would still allow for variety in theming, which btw exists even within the Python docs: witness the theme difference between 2.7 and 3.x), and call it a day.

Regards

Antoine.

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