Welcome to the world of open-source collaboration! This step-by-step guide will show you how to contribute to documentation hosted on GitHub, using only the Github web interface. No installation or coding experience required! You'll learn to navigate repositories, edit files, and create pull requests effortlessly. Let's get started!
Quick terminology
- Repository - or a "repo", is a folder that contains of all the files, sub-folders, and content related to a project.
- Fork - a copy of a repository
- Branch - a version of the project that contains changes not yet merged to the 'main' project (ie. 'branching off'.)
- Pull request - if someone has created a branch, ie. made some change to your document, they can submit a request to the document maintainer to merge it ('pull this changes')
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Create an account: First step is to create an account at GitHub. Choose a username you feel comfortable displaying for contributions you'll be authoring.
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Fork the Repository: Navigate to the URL of the repository containing the documentation you want to contribute to. Click the "Fork" button in the top-right corner of the repository page. Note: This creates a personal copy under your account, any changes you make to this fork will not be reflected to the original site. The following steps will show you how to submit your changes to the original document.
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Edit the Documentation: Go back to the URL of the main documentation repo (not your fork/copy), and navigate to the folder containing the documentation file you want to update. Click on the file you want to edit. On the top-right corner of the file, you'll find a pencil icon for editing. Click it to enter the editor.
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Make Changes: Use the built-in editor to make your desired changes to the documentation. You can add, delete, or modify text as needed. When you finish making changes, scroll down to the "Commit changes" section.
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Commit Changes: In the "Commit changes" section, provide a brief and descriptive message explaining your changes. Click the "Propose changes" button.
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Create a New Branch: This will generate a new branch (e.g., "your-username/Project-Name-patch-1") based on the latest version of the documentation. Click the "Create pull request" button.
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Create Pull Request: You'll be redirected to the pull request. Once you've confirmed the details of your change, click the "Create pull request" button. Your pull request will be submitted to the original repository's maintainers for review.
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Collaborate and Iterate: The repository maintainers will review your changes, provide feedback, and suggest improvements if needed. You can continue to make additional commits to your branch based on the feedback until the maintainers decide to merge your changes into the main documentation.
That's it! By following these steps, you can contribute to the documentation hosted on GitHub using only the web interface. Remember to be patient and responsive to feedback during the review process, as it's a collaborative effort to improve the documentation.
- Quick terminology
- Screenshots for each step
- Tips for writing in Markdown, Cheat sheet
- Next Steps, using Github Desktop