(#7) Added CONTRIBUTING.md to make it easier for developers to get st…

…arted

CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+# Contributing
+
+Here are some guidelines that we'd like contributors to follow so that we can
+have a chance of keeping things right.
+
+## Getting Starting
+
+* Make sure you have a [GitHub account](https://github.com/signup/free)
+* Submit a ticket for your issue if one does not already exist
+  * Clearly describe the issue including steps to reproduce when it is a bug
+  * Include the earliest version that you know has the issue
+* Fork the repository on GitHub
+
+## Making Changes
+
+* Create a topic branch from where you want to base your work
+  * This is usually the master branch
+  * Only target release branches if you are certain your fix must be on that
+    branch
+  * To quickly create a topic branch based on master; `git branch
+    fix/master/my_contribution master` then checkout the new branch with `git
+    checkout fix/master/my_contribution`
+  * Avoid working directly on the `master` branch
+* Make commits of logical units
+* Check for unnecessary whitespace with `git diff --check` before committing
+* Make sure your commit messages are in the proper format
+```
+    (#99999) Make the example in CONTRIBUTING imperative and concrete
+
+    Without this patch applied the example commit message in the CONTRIBUTING
+    document is not a concrete example.  This is a problem because the
+    contributor is left to imagine what the commit message should look like
+    based on a description rather than an example.  This patch fixes the
+    problem by making the example concrete and imperative.
+
+    The first line is a real life imperative statement with a ticket number
+    from our issue tracker.  The body describes the behavior without the patch,
+    why this is a problem, and how the patch fixes the problem when applied.
+```
+* Make sure you have added the necessary tests for your changes
+* Run *all* the tests to assure nothing else was accidentally broken
+
+## Submitting Changes
+
+* Ensure you added your details to `AUTHORS.md` in the correct format
+```
+    * Joe Bloggs <joe.bloggs@example.com>
+```
+* Push your changes to a topic branch in your fork of the repository
+* Submit a pull request to neocotic's repository
+* Update your issue to mark that you have submitted code and are ready for it
+  to be reviewed
+  * Include a link to the pull request in the issue
+
+# Additional Resources
+
+* [html.md repository](https://github.com/neocotic/html.md)
+* [Issue tracker](https://github.com/neocotic/html.md/issues)
+* [General GitHub documentation](http://help.github.com)
+* [GitHub pull request documentation](http://help.github.com/send-pull-requests)