Contributing Guidelines

We welcome contributions to The Back Room documentation! Whether you’re fixing a typo, adding new content, or improving existing pages, your help is appreciated. Please follow these guidelines to ensure a smooth contribution process.

  • Parent and Grandparent Pages: Ensure that each page has a clear parent and, if applicable, a grandparent page. This helps maintain a logical hierarchy and makes it easier for users to navigate the documentation.
  • Navigation Order: Use the nav_order attribute in the front matter to specify the order of pages within their parent. This helps organize content in a way that makes sense to users. (Use increments of 0.1 for sub-pages, e.g., 1.1, 1.2, etc.)
  • Excluding Pages from Navigation: If a page should not appear in the navigation menu, use the nav_exclude: true attribute in the front matter.
  • Permalinks: Use the permalink attribute to create user-friendly URLs for each page. This improves SEO and makes it easier for users to remember and share links.

Content Guidelines

  • No Outside Sources: To ensure the authenticity of our sources, all projects must be hosted from our GitLab repository. There will be no exceptions to this rule.
  • Clarity and Conciseness: Write clear and concise content. Avoid jargon and explain technical terms when necessary.
  • Formatting: Use Markdown formatting to structure your content. Utilize headings, lists, and code blocks to enhance readability.
  • Images and Media: Include relevant images or media to support your content. Ensure that you have the right to use any images you include.
  • Links: Use relative links for internal documentation references and absolute links for external resources.
  • Code Snippets: When including code snippets, use fenced code blocks with appropriate language identifiers for syntax highlighting.
  • Citations and References: If you reference external sources, provide proper citations and links to the original content.
  • Review and Proofreading: Before submitting your contribution, review your content for accuracy, grammar, and spelling.
  • Testing: If your contribution includes code or technical instructions, ensure that they have been tested and work as expected.
  • Respect Copyright: Ensure that all content you contribute is original or properly attributed. Do not include copyrighted material without permission.

Submission Process

  1. Fork the Repository: Start by forking The Back Room documentation repository to your GitHub account.
  2. Create a New Branch: Create a new branch for your changes. Use a descriptive name that reflects the nature of your contribution (e.g., fix-typo, add-new-theme).
  3. Make Your Changes: Implement your changes following the guidelines outlined above.
  4. Commit Your Changes: Write clear and descriptive commit messages that explain the purpose of your changes.
  5. Push to Your Fork: Push your changes to your forked repository on GitHub.
  6. Create a Pull Request: Navigate to the original repository and create a pull request from your forked branch. Provide a detailed description of your changes and any relevant context.
  7. Review Process: Your pull request will be reviewed by the maintainers. Be responsive to feedback and make any necessary revisions.
  8. Merge: Once approved, your changes will be merged into the main documentation.

Licensing

By contributing to The Back Room documentation, you agree that your contributions will be licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) license.

Support

If you have any questions or need assistance with your contribution, please reach out to the maintainers via the repository’s issue tracker or contact us directly on our Discord. Thank you for helping to improve The Back Room documentation!