I'm building my first game in the quest engine, I've messed around in ren'py (which runs on Python) for a but that wasn't really for me, and I'm wondering if anybody has any advice on this. The game I'm building is heavy on images, somewhat similar to the infocom Hitchhiker's Guide game, and I've played around with the display settings a bit but I've come to realize it would look much better if I could have the text parser and all subsequent text on the right side of the screen and display images on the left. Any advice on how to do this? I realize I'll probably have to do some genuine code work which is why I mentioned I only have minimal experience with the Python language before.

as for learning quest's language (and structure and/or its GUI~Editor usage):

quest's scripting part of its language is a bit similiar to Python (it has Lists and Dictionaries), but the syntax is more like C++/Java (you need all the brackets and etc, whereas Python is more stream-lined, not requiring all the brackets and etc). However, for the "physical things" of the coding, it is similar to XML/HTMLm using their tag blocks. Also, you can use JS (JavaScript) with it too. Here's some examples:

scripting syntax:

if (player.current_life <= 0) {
  msg ("GAME OVER")
  finish
}

the 'creation' tag block syntax:

<game name="sample">
  <gameid>some_unique_generated_random_hash_string</gameid>
  <version>1.0</version>
  <firstpublished>2016</firstpublished>
</game>

<object name="room">
  <object name="player">
    <attr name="alias" type="string">HK</attr>
  <object>
</object>

<function name="xxx">
</function>

// etc etc etc 'creation' tag blocks (Elements: http://docs.textadventures.co.uk/quest/elements/ and/or within these Element 'creation' tag blocks: Attributes: http://docs.textadventures.co.uk/quest/types/)

there's a lot of documentation ( http://docs.textadventures.co.uk/quest/ ), and we're very helpful (the main quest forum board and the 'code samples and libraries' forum board), you'll be able to learn quest's language quickly, as you got some experience with coding/programming, whereas I and others had no knowledge of programming/coding at all, yet were able to learn quest's language.

as for the question about the media aspect, I'll let someone more knowedgeable on this stuff respond.

Just a word of warning... If you are making a game heavy on images, realize that there is a file size limitation. Keep that in mind before loading tons of pictures in there.

If you can show a layout, it should be possible to come up with the HTML and CSS changes necessary to make it happen. The phrase "the text parser and all subsequent text on the right side of the screen and display images on the left" could have multiple interpretations. Do you have the normal panes (inventory, compass, etc) on the right? Are your images tall and thin to match the left column? Do you want the image centered vertically? Where is the type in box? Stuff like that. :)

Even a basic screen mockup would be helpful.