Difference between revisions of "Documentation/Contribute"

Revision as of 14:08, 20 November 2009

The OpenOffice.org Documentation Project always welcomes new contributors. No matter what your level of experience is, you can make a valuable contribution.

How can I help?

Here are some ways you can help:

• Writing
• Reviewing
• Editing
• Research
• Maintenance
• Artwork
• Other

Writing

If you are good at organizing information, explaining concepts, and writing instructions, you can help most by writing.

Ideally you are an experienced technical writer and have good English skills. But neither of those ideals are requirements, because other people can edit your English... or you can write in another language for translation into English.

Reviewing

Don't feel confident of your writing skills or your level of knowledge about OpenOffice.org itself? Reviewing documentation (especially docs aimed at new users) is a great way to start. Is it written well for the audience? Are the instructions correct? Is anything missing? Let us know what needs fixing, or correct it yourself.

Editing

Sometimes called "proofreading" though the two are not the same. Here you do need good English skills. In addition to correcting errors, editors help make the docs more readable.

Research

Writers often don't have time to make sure existing docs are complete and up to date. You can help by reading the forums and mailing lists to see what questions users have. Is info missing from our docs, or just hard to find? Do we need a new FAQ, a how-to, or a section in a user guide?

Maintenance

Keep pages up to date with changes in new releases of OpenOffice.org.

Artwork

Help writers by capturing, cropping, and labeling screenshots, or creating diagrams and other artwork.

Other

We also need help with things like:

• Maintaining the Documentation Project website
• Administering and monitoring changes made in the Wiki
• Building and exporting books using Wiki Collections
• Answering questions raised on the Wiki Talk pages

New ideas are welcome. Is there a better way to do something? Let the project team members know.

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Join the Documentation Mailing List. Introduce yourself to the team, tell us where your strengths are, and how you would like to help.
• Become a member of the Documentation Project.
• Set up a user ID on the OpenOffice.org Wiki
• Read and understand the Licences used within the Documentation Project
• Read the Wiki Editing Policy.
• Check the lists of high priority and ongoing tasks below and pick something that interests you.
• Ask questions on the Documentation mailing list if you're not sure about how to do something.

High Priority Tasks

• Review the tasks in the Task List. Are they still valid?
• Clean up the Contributing 101 page contents
• Set up a guideline for new Doc Project members
• Publish ODT and PDF versions of the Developer's Guide
• Review and edit the Writer, Calc, Impress, Math documentation.
• Develop a Base User Guide
• Update the Migration Guide from 2.x to 3.x
• Review pages in the Category:Documentation/NeedsRework. These documents need review and updating.

Contributing in the Wiki

Anyone can contribute in the Wiki by following this simple procedure:

1. Log in to the Wiki
2. Pick a topic that interests you
3. Edit the page and make the changes and edits as needed, and save

If the changes involve a rewrite or other major work, discuss it on the Documentation Mailing list first to let the team know what you are doing. A large re-write project will need some co-ordination, and tracking.

Ongoing Tasks

• Translations to and from other languages.
• Cleaning up and converting Developer docs to formal User Guides - see Category:Documentation/Candidate
• New HowTos. e.g. tips and tricks with Base or any other module that is not something that would be in a user guide but might be useful. For example, a HowTo for creating a Flow Chart using Draw.
• Other specific features-oriented type short manuals.
• Review the Documentation wish list.

Documentation Developers

The majority of the Documentation work is now coordinated and written here on the Wiki.

People with Developer status at the Documentation Project can upload files directly to the Docs website and do other site maintenance duties. If you want to have Developer status, write to the mailing list and ask. This status is not granted automatically.

Once you have received Developer status, you will need to get CVS access. This page has links to FAQs on the subject. The instructions need to be consolidated and rewritten.