4 ms·

This is a great start! Contributing can be a lot more than just PRs though: - answering questions on stack overflow, chat (irc, gitter, slack) - creating a m

by hzoo 10y ago

This is a great start! Contributing can be a lot more than just PRs though: - answering questions on stack overflow, chat (irc, gitter, slack) - creating a minimal code repro, checking for duplicates, checking if a bug is fixed in a later release/master branch - writing tutorials/usage scenarios, giving talks, just using the project and providing feedback - helping with documentation + website - translations if possible - reviewing other PRs - helping with the changelog, testing prereleases - adding to the discussion on issues Bigger projects can have a pretty hard time with maintenance: fixing bugs, juggling PRs, making releases, answering questions, etc. (We're looking for help on https://github.com/babel/babel https://github.com/babel/babel and trying to figure out how we can make the project more contributor friendly!)

Mz 10y ago
helping with documentation + website I am not a programmer. I do copywriting for pay and I have run a bunch of different personal websites over the years (15+ years, I think). I know a little HTML and CSS. I am interested in getting involved in open source via first working on copywriting and website stuff, since that is what I already have a background in. I am finding it extremely opaque to figure out how on earth to do that. I left a couple of related comments on HN recently: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12860294 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12860294 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12851361 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12851361 I do have a github account and I recently went through the Hello World on how to do pull requests. Any tips on how to begin interacting with open source projects on the copywriting and website development piece of things? Thanks.
- the8472 10y ago
  That depends largely on what you want to edit. Websites might be static pages, generated from some simpler markup language or hosted on a form of CMS. Documentation is often generated from source code comments to some extent. If you can't easily figure out where it is stored and how it is generated you should probably ask along with your inquiry whether the maintainers would be interested in contributions in that area.
  - Mz 10y ago
    Okay, so, you are suggesting I figure out who the project lead is and email them as my first step?
    - the8472 10y ago
      The preferred form of communication also depends on the project. Do they have an issue tracker? If so you could probably file one along the lines of "Page X could use some improvement" and ask whether they're interested and how it's done. Some projects use mailing lists, forums or even irc. Open, group-based forms of communication are usually preferred because it allows anyone qualified to respond instead of pinning it on a particular person.
      - Mz 10y ago
        Thank you. This helps. I get told all the time "Just do X!" and then I try X and it blows up in my face because it turns out you only do X under (long list of conditions that no one ever told me and assumed I knew).
        the8472 10y ago
        One thing I forgot to mention, this also depends on project size. Larger projects, especially corporate- or foundation-backed ones, might have less-technical staff dedicated to the web presence/PR/outreach etc. which might use other communication channels than the developers. > Then I try X and it blows up in my face because it turns out you only do X under (long list of conditions that no one ever told me and assumed I knew). You don't necessarily have to know. Some exploration and just asking for pointers is often required.
        startling 10y ago
        I get anxious about this too sometimes, but in my experience the "long lists of conditions that no one ever told me and assumed I knew" are hardly ever relevant.
- hzoo 10y ago
  I think it depends on the project like mentioned. For react, the docs for the website is in the same repo as the main code under "docs/" https://github.com/facebook/react/tree/master/docs https://github.com/facebook/react/tree/master/docs. A lot of projects do what we do with babel: have a separate repo with the whole username.github.io name: https://github.com/babel/babel.github.io https://github.com/babel/babel.github.io. And a lot of projects started adding links to edit the page you are currently on: http://babeljs.io/docs/learn-es2015/ http://babeljs.io/docs/learn-es2015/ (see the "edit this page" link on the header. For yarn it's on the bottom: https://yarnpkg.com/en/docs/ https://yarnpkg.com/en/docs/. That at least makes it easy to edit a specific page for typos etc. Then you can just edit it from the website
- ufmace 10y ago
  I'd say broadly that the right first step is to communicate with the maintainers somehow. Figuring out how is part of it. Check for activity - how many PRs, open and closed, does the project have? How often do they come in, and how quickly do they get commented on or merged by project maintainers? Are they linked to Issues on GitHub or some other system, and what's the activity level on those? Maybe they have a mailing list, Google Groups, IRC, Slack, or something else. Find it, see if it looks active, maybe send out a quick hello and see if anybody responds, and have a chat with them about what you'd like to do, if they're open to that, and how they would like for you to proceed. If they use GitHub issues or some other open issue tracker, you could open an issue for poor documentation or whatever, with an offer to fix it, and see if anybody responds. Sounds complex, but you should only spend like 10-20 minutes on this. If you can't find clear signs of activity in that amount of time, there's a good chance that the project is abandoned or only accepts contributions from a private group. It may take a couple of days or so to get a response to messages on less active projects, that's okay. If you can't see any activity or get any response from maintainers in a reasonable timeframe, then don't bother. If your contributions are wanted and have a good chance of being accepted into the project, then somebody should be willing to write a few sentences to you specifically telling you so, and outlining how to contribute or where to find a current contribution guide.

by hzoo 10y ago

Mz 10y ago

helping with documentation + website I am not a programmer. I do copywriting for pay and I have run a bunch of different personal websites over the years (15+ years, I think). I know a little HTML and CSS. I am interested in getting involved in open source via first working on copywriting and website stuff, since that is what I already have a background in. I am finding it extremely opaque to figure out how on earth to do that. I left a couple of related comments on HN recently: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12860294 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12860294 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12851361 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12851361 I do have a github account and I recently went through the Hello World on how to do pull requests. Any tips on how to begin interacting with open source projects on the copywriting and website development piece of things? Thanks.

the8472 10y ago
That depends largely on what you want to edit. Websites might be static pages, generated from some simpler markup language or hosted on a form of CMS. Documentation is often generated from source code comments to some extent. If you can't easily figure out where it is stored and how it is generated you should probably ask along with your inquiry whether the maintainers would be interested in contributions in that area.
- Mz 10y ago
  Okay, so, you are suggesting I figure out who the project lead is and email them as my first step?
  - the8472 10y ago
    The preferred form of communication also depends on the project. Do they have an issue tracker? If so you could probably file one along the lines of "Page X could use some improvement" and ask whether they're interested and how it's done. Some projects use mailing lists, forums or even irc. Open, group-based forms of communication are usually preferred because it allows anyone qualified to respond instead of pinning it on a particular person.
    - Mz 10y ago
      Thank you. This helps. I get told all the time "Just do X!" and then I try X and it blows up in my face because it turns out you only do X under (long list of conditions that no one ever told me and assumed I knew).
      - the8472 10y ago
        One thing I forgot to mention, this also depends on project size. Larger projects, especially corporate- or foundation-backed ones, might have less-technical staff dedicated to the web presence/PR/outreach etc. which might use other communication channels than the developers. > Then I try X and it blows up in my face because it turns out you only do X under (long list of conditions that no one ever told me and assumed I knew). You don't necessarily have to know. Some exploration and just asking for pointers is often required.
      - startling 10y ago
        I get anxious about this too sometimes, but in my experience the "long lists of conditions that no one ever told me and assumed I knew" are hardly ever relevant.
hzoo 10y ago
I think it depends on the project like mentioned. For react, the docs for the website is in the same repo as the main code under "docs/" https://github.com/facebook/react/tree/master/docs https://github.com/facebook/react/tree/master/docs. A lot of projects do what we do with babel: have a separate repo with the whole username.github.io name: https://github.com/babel/babel.github.io https://github.com/babel/babel.github.io. And a lot of projects started adding links to edit the page you are currently on: http://babeljs.io/docs/learn-es2015/ http://babeljs.io/docs/learn-es2015/ (see the "edit this page" link on the header. For yarn it's on the bottom: https://yarnpkg.com/en/docs/ https://yarnpkg.com/en/docs/. That at least makes it easy to edit a specific page for typos etc. Then you can just edit it from the website
ufmace 10y ago
I'd say broadly that the right first step is to communicate with the maintainers somehow. Figuring out how is part of it. Check for activity - how many PRs, open and closed, does the project have? How often do they come in, and how quickly do they get commented on or merged by project maintainers? Are they linked to Issues on GitHub or some other system, and what's the activity level on those? Maybe they have a mailing list, Google Groups, IRC, Slack, or something else. Find it, see if it looks active, maybe send out a quick hello and see if anybody responds, and have a chat with them about what you'd like to do, if they're open to that, and how they would like for you to proceed. If they use GitHub issues or some other open issue tracker, you could open an issue for poor documentation or whatever, with an offer to fix it, and see if anybody responds. Sounds complex, but you should only spend like 10-20 minutes on this. If you can't find clear signs of activity in that amount of time, there's a good chance that the project is abandoned or only accepts contributions from a private group. It may take a couple of days or so to get a response to messages on less active projects, that's okay. If you can't see any activity or get any response from maintainers in a reasonable timeframe, then don't bother. If your contributions are wanted and have a good chance of being accepted into the project, then somebody should be willing to write a few sentences to you specifically telling you so, and outlining how to contribute or where to find a current contribution guide.