diff --git a/lib/damask/config/__init__.py b/lib/damask/config/__init__.py
index 3c75ebd19..ba31241d0 100644
--- a/lib/damask/config/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/damask/config/__init__.py
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 # -*- coding: UTF-8 no BOM -*-
 
-# $Id$
+"""Aggregator for configuration file handling"""
 
-from .material import Material
+from .material import Material    #noqa
diff --git a/lib/damask/config/material.py b/lib/damask/config/material.py
index 09b716e04..4c228e312 100644
--- a/lib/damask/config/material.py
+++ b/lib/damask/config/material.py
@@ -100,20 +100,19 @@ class Texture(Section):
  
  
 class Material():
-  
-  '''
-     Reads, manipulates and writes material.config files
-  '''
+  """Reads, manipulates and writes material.config files"""
+
   __slots__ = ['data']
 
   def __init__(self,verbose=True):
+    """generates ordered list of parts"""
     self.parts = [
              'homogenization',
              'microstructure',
              'crystallite',
              'phase',
              'texture',
-            ]                                       # ordered (!) list of parts
+            ]
     self.data = {\
               'homogenization': {'__order__': []},
               'microstructure': {'__order__': []},
@@ -124,6 +123,7 @@ class Material():
     self.verbose = verbose
            
   def __repr__(self):
+    """returns current configuration to be used as material.config"""
     me = []
     for part in self.parts:
       if self.verbose: print('doing '+part)
@@ -144,7 +144,6 @@ class Material():
     re_sec  = re.compile(r'^\[(.+)\]$')                   # pattern for section
 
     name_section = ''
-    idx_section = 0
     active = False
 
     for line in content:
@@ -197,8 +196,7 @@ class Material():
     return saveFile
 
   def add_section(self, part=None, section=None, initialData=None, merge = False):
-    '''adding/updating'''
-    
+    """adding/updating"""
     part    = part.lower()
     section = section.lower()
     if part not in self.parts: raise Exception('invalid part %s'%part)
@@ -227,10 +225,10 @@ class Material():
   def add_microstructure(self, section='',
                                components={},      # dict of phase,texture, and fraction lists
                         ):
-    ''' Experimental! Needs expansion to multi-constituent microstructures...''' 
-    
+    """Experimental! Needs expansion to multi-constituent microstructures..."""   
     microstructure = Microstructure()
-    components=dict((k.lower(), v) for k,v in components.iteritems())                               # make keys lower case (http://stackoverflow.com/questions/764235/dictionary-to-lowercase-in-python)
+    # make keys lower case (http://stackoverflow.com/questions/764235/dictionary-to-lowercase-in-python)
+    components=dict((k.lower(), v) for k,v in components.iteritems())                               
    
     for key in ['phase','texture','fraction','crystallite']:
       if type(components[key]) is not list:
@@ -259,8 +257,8 @@ class Material():
                          section=None, 
                          key=None, 
                          value=None):
-    if type(value) is not type([]): 
-      if type(value) is not type('s'):
+    if not isinstance(value,list): 
+      if not isinstance(value,str):
         value = '%s'%value
       value = [value]
     newlen = len(value)  
@@ -271,17 +269,3 @@ class Material():
     if newlen is not oldlen:
       print('Length of value was changed from %i to %i!'%(oldlen,newlen))
     
-
-    
-def ex1():
-    mat=Material()
-    p=Phase({'constitution':'lump'})   
-    t=Texture()    
-    t.add_component('gauss',{'eulers':[1,2,3]})
-    mat.add_section('phase','phase1',p)
-    mat.add_section('texture','tex1',t)
-    mat.add_microstructure('mustruct1',{'phase':['phase1']*2,'texture':['tex1']*2,'fraction':[0.2]*2})
-    print(mat)
-    mat.write(file='poop')
-    mat.write(file='poop',overwrite=True)
-    
diff --git a/lib/damask/geometry/__init__.py b/lib/damask/geometry/__init__.py
index 3d35ad4fe..51199965b 100644
--- a/lib/damask/geometry/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/damask/geometry/__init__.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # -*- coding: UTF-8 no BOM -*-
 
-# $Id$
+"""Aggregator for geometry handling"""
 
-from .geometry import Geometry   # only one class
-from .spectral import Spectral   # only one class
-from .marc     import Marc       # only one class
+from .geometry import Geometry   # noqa
+from .spectral import Spectral   # noqa
+from .marc     import Marc       # noqa
diff --git a/lib/damask/geometry/geometry.py b/lib/damask/geometry/geometry.py
index 83a7c58a6..25a676b83 100644
--- a/lib/damask/geometry/geometry.py
+++ b/lib/damask/geometry/geometry.py
@@ -5,10 +5,11 @@
 import damask.geometry
 
 class Geometry():
-  '''
-     General class for geometry parsing.
-     Sub-classed by the individual solvers.
-  '''
+  """
+  General class for geometry parsing.
+
+  Sub-classed by the individual solvers.
+  """
   
   def __init__(self,solver=''):
     solverClass = {