Getting started with contributing
We're super-excited to work with you! There are a few things you should know before you get started.
Where to find things
The Docathon covers two areas:
Product documentation: This lives in the docs repo.
Developer documentation: This lives in the developer documentation repo.
Submissions
You can submit contributions in one or more of the following ways:
Open a PR directly from a doc page using the GitHub Edit option in the top-right corner of the page.
Visit the docs repo, find the page you want to edit, and open a PR that way.
Create new content! You may not be able to create a branch for your new content, but feel free to create a Google doc and share it with us. We'll work with you on finding the perfect place for it.
Choosing the right contribution
We want you to enjoy the Docathon! When contributing to our product documentation, it's important to choose contributions that are a good match your skills and experience. For example, it may not make sense for you to work on a database installation update if you haven't installed Mattermost before, or don't have experience configuring databases. Similarly, you may find it challenging to write mobile procedural steps for Messaging tasks if you don't have access to Mattermost on a mobile device.
We recommend an approach that fits well with one of the following scenarios:
A technology you want to learn
A topic you know well
An update you think will help other documentation visitors
Updates or corrections to documentation pages you use often
Of course you're absolutely welcome to step out of your comfort zone and take on work that's new to you. We look forward to seeing what you produce.
Reviews and editing
We don't expect perfection, so please don't spend a lot of time trying to follow the style guide rigorously. That's our job! Bear in mind that we may edit your PR directly for stylistic changes. The only reason we do this is because it's quicker - if you have any questions about changes we've made, we'll be more than happy to go through them with you!
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