[discussion] Consider modularity of different page components

[bollwyvl]

... Do you think that the _templates folder is a better place for these links? https://github.com/pydata/pydata-sphinx-theme/tree/master/pydata_sphinx_theme/_templates

I think of _templates as being more like "components", little snippets of HTML that could be put in other parts of the page as well for themes that are sub-theming this one. The .html in folder above _templates I think of more as defining the major structure of the theme (sidebars, top bar, etc). What do folks think?

from #293 (comment), regarding

Goal

Make the overall template/file architecture more modular, minimizing downstream breakage of sites using existing template identifiers.

Motivation

A number of components, such as the "icon links" section proposed in #293, are potentially block-level constructs, which could be re-combined more flexibly in the _templates folder. These could be overridden at a more modular level, but currently have id-level constructs in the DOM/CSS.

Design ideas

The following components are candidates for being moved into _templates.

• icon-links.html
• search-related things
• ...

Criteria

For a successful migration, the default theme should maintain an existing id that meets existing styling need, but allow for a new class-ful variant.

Accessibility

As a component is migrated, it would be worth strongly-considering whether the tags chosen (an abundance of div, span and i) could be replaced with more readily screen-reader interpretable DOM (e.g. article, section). The existing tag names be maintained, and tested, with a transition plan to replace them.