When you see a repository that needs some simple work done and as a beginner you want to contribute it can be a bit overwhelming to know what to do exactly. So I wanted to make a post about how I personally contribute to a repo.
FORK_IT
Click on the fork icon in GitHub and it will create a local repo for you on your account. Once you have a copy (fork) of the repo, you click on the "CODE" button and copy the .git URL.
LOAD_EDITOR
No matter if you use VS Code, emacs, nano, or any number of others load it up, I use VS Code so I will be using that as an example of what to do locally on your computer. In VS Code you press:
Ctrl + Shift + P
to open the command pallete. Then type:
gitcl
to open the "Git Clone" tool included in VS Code.
PASTE_GIT_URL
Paste the .git URL you copied earlier. Choose your destination for the repo locally and clone it.
MAKE_YOUR_CHANGES
Make whatever changes you need to and push your changes to GitHub that will be on your account.
CREATE_BRANCH
Im doing this a little backwards, but I prefer it for orderly commits. Name your branch something that will indicate your changes to the code owners. "bug-fix", "feature", "enhancements", "web-layout-fixes" etc...
SUBMIT_PULL_REQUEST
Click on Pull Request and compare across forks, compare your new brnach to the owners main branch and there should be changes that can be merged.
That isn't the entire process, because now you have to wait and the owner will communicate with you in the PR thread about any issues they have. Be kind, be respectful, and enjoy. Let me know if this worked for you. I even have a few beginner repos with open "Good-First-Issues" for new contributors and I break stuff all the time to keep them active. Connect with me on Github and Discord and let's work together to create something amazing. I love building Discord bots and other service workers for various chat clients.
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