[gmx-developers] Update the html theme for manual.gromacs.org?

[Eric Irrgang]

Hi Devs.

I opened https://gitlab.com/gromacs/gromacs/-/issues/4545 to propose updating the Sphinx html theme.

furo is a theme that I'm seeing increasingly adopted by software projects. It is a modern HTML5 them with dynamic layout, a modern feel (more consistent with www.gromacs.org) and better looking API docs formatting.

For an example of what a refresh could look like, you could do
    docker run --rm -p 8080:80 gromacs/docs:furo
and then browse to http://localhost:8080/

In that example, I took advantage of some nice features like an automatic copy button for code blocks and an edit button that can take people straight to a web interface from which they can create merge requests for documentation fixes.

Some people might like the built-in light/dark theme choice.

Inline tabs look good in the furo theme, but I didn't see any immediate use case in the current docs. Knowing their available may inspire someone to suggest a more compact layout for current or future content, though. https://pradyunsg.me/furo/reference/tabs/

Please offer feedback on
* whether such a refresh is reasonable on any particular time scale, and
* whether (as a reviewer) you would prefer to see a single merge request or whether you would prefer to discuss each commit in https://gitlab.com/gromacs/gromacs/-/commits/mei-web-theme individually.

Cheers,
Eric Irrgang