.. _contrib-types:

Types of contributions
======================

There are many different ways to contribute, no matter your level of prior
knowledge. Our issue labels include the following options that you can use to
filter the `issues list`_ according to the type of contribution you want to
make.

Technical
---------

These types of tasks might require you to have a good amount of prior
experience with servers, networking, hardware, or related topics. This might
include:

- Technical reviews
- Technical updates

It could also include creating content, if you want to submit a guide on how to
accomplish a specific task, or an explanation of a topic.

`Find technical issues to work on`_.

Coding options
--------------

Some issues require specific knowledge or technical expertise, such as:

- Creating vale rules
- Improving GitHub actions and workflows
- Creating graphics from code `using Mermaid`_
- Fixing incorrect code snippets in the documentation

`Find coding issues to work on`_.

Low-code options
----------------

If you are happy to work with Markdown (or MyST) formatting, you can edit our
documentation directly to fix:

- Spelling and grammatical errors.
- Updating broken links.
- Unclear explanations or imprecise language.
- Testing tutorials and how-to guide steps.
- Fixing or creating graphics from code using Mermaid. If you are not familiar
  with the syntax, they have a live `online generator`_ tool that will create
  the code for a diagram you design.

`Find low-code issues to work on`_.

No-code options
----------------

If you spot something in the documentation that could be improved (or needs to
be corrected), the best way to contribute is to report it!

Creating issues
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Since we use GitHub issues to track problems with the documentation, creating
issues is a great way to contribute. You can use the "Give feedback" button at
the top of any page in the documentation to report the issue you have found.

Take care to describe any issue in detail so that the reviewer can understand
the problem clearly. A detailed issue might include a link to the affected part
of the documentation, a description of the problem and -- optionally -- a
suggested solution.

This can also be a method for suggesting improvements or giving any other
feedback you might want to share!

User-experience testing
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

We want the Ubuntu Server documentation to be as accessible as possible. If
you have feedback about any aspect of your experience of using our
documentation, this is incredibly valuable to us! If you have identified any
areas we can improve upon please let us know by opening an issue.

Please check the issues list first to see if someone has already reported the
same (or a similar) issue -- if they have, then leave your thoughts as a reply
on that issue. By keeping discussions together in one place, it makes it easier
for us to understand the impact and gather opinions from affected readers.  

Copy editing
^^^^^^^^^^^^

You can edit individual documentation pages directly in the GitHub web
interface if you don't want to work on the command line. To do this, select
the pencil icon next to the "Give feedback" button. For details about how to
use the web editor, you can `refer to their documentation`_ which has several
handy guides.

`Find no-code issues to work on`_.

.. _using Mermaid: https://mermaid.live/
.. _online generator: https://www.mermaidchart.com/app/dashboard
.. _refer to their documentation: https://docs.github.com/en/codespaces/the-githubdev-web-based-editor
.. _issues list: https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-server-documentation/issues
.. _Find technical issues to work on: https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-server-documentation/issues?q=is%3Aopen+is%3Aissue+label%3Atechnical
.. _Find coding issues to work on: https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-server-documentation/issues?q=is%3Aopen+is%3Aissue+label%3Acoding
.. _Find low-code issues to work on: https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-server-documentation/issues?q=is%3Aopen+is%3Aissue+label%3Alow-code
.. _Find no-code issues to work on: https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-server-documentation/issues?q=is%3Aopen+is%3Aissue+label%3Ano-code