Contributing to the website

The following content is adapted from TDWG.

Reporting issues

Discovered a typo? Noticed a bug? Have a suggestion to improve a page? Let us know by creating an issue in the website repository.

How do I report an issue?

Click here to report an issue on GitHub. Doing so will automatically notify website maintainers and you will receive an email notification if they have questions or if the issue has been resolved.

Want to solve the issue yourself instead? See how to edit content.

Writing content

How do I edit content?

1. Browse the website repository for the page you are looking for.

2. Click the pencil button on the top right to edit the page. You need to be logged-in to GitHub to do this.

   

   Note: behind the scenes, this will fork the website repository to your account, so you can make suggestions.

3. Edit the file using Markdown syntax.
4. Preview your suggestions by switching to the Preview changes tab. You can switch between the tabs Edit file / Preview changes as much as you want.
5. At the bottom of the page, write a short description of what you changed.
6. Click the green buttons Propose file change, then Create pull request and then Create pull request again.
7. Great! Your proposed changes are now submitted as a pull request and the website maintainers have been notified. You will receive an email notification if they have questions or when your suggestions have been accepted.

Do I need to login to edit content?

Anyone can suggest changes using a GitHub account, where the authentication and review process is handled.

How is content organized?

Content is organized in a hierarchical directory structure, which represent the different sections of the website:

content
├── pages
│   ├── best-practices       : Landing page for best practices working group
│   ├── contact              : Information about the mailing list and Slack channel
│   ├── contribute           : This page
│   ├── data-sharing        : Landing page for data sharing working group
│   ├── directory            : Community directory
│   ├── home                 : Home page
│   ├── meetings             : A landing page for all upcoming meetings
│   ├── past-meetings        : A landing page for all past meetings
│   ├── resources            : A place to collect and curate relevant resources
│   └── team                 : Logistics team contact info
│
└── _posts                   : Blog posts
└── assets                   : A place to store image files or other document types

How do I start a new page?

1. Browse the website repository to the place where you want to create the page. See how content is organized.

2. Click Create new file. You need to be logged-in to GitHub to do this.

   

3. Name your file pages/page-name.md. File names should be short, lowercase and hyphen-separated.

   

4. Copy and adapt the following content:

    ---
    title: Page title
    description: Page summary
    background: 
    permalink: page-title-url
    ---
   
    Page content
   

5. End your page with an empty line.
6. At the bottom of the page, write a short description of what you changed.
7. Click the green buttons Propose new file, then Create pull request and then Create pull request again.
8. Great! Your proposed page is now submitted as a pull request and the website maintainers have been notified. You will receive an email notification if they have questions or when your suggestions have been accepted.