GitLab Instructions for Write The Docs Writing Day participants
Issue Description
This issue is aimed at participants in the GitLab Writing Day session (April 25) at the Write The Docs 2021 virtual conference (Portland).
Benefits:
- Contribute to the GitLab open source project
- Learn more about git (and GitLab)
- Learn about Vale, the popular syntax-aware linter
Knowledge of Git is not required. GitLab includes a web-based interface to edit our documentation. For more information, watch this video. To go straight to the demo (< 8 minutes), skip to the 8:03 mark.
The video is in three sections:
Help:
During Writing Day, one or more GitLab team members are available for assistance in the assigned Hopin room. You can also ping one of the following GitLab team members in the Write The Docs slack:
-
@selhorn
,@arty-chan
,@mikejang
Key links:
- GitLab documentation
-
GitLab git repository
- With an account, you're welcome to fork and clone the repository.
- If you don't understand the meanings of "clone" and "fork," don't worry! There are other editing methods.
- GitLab documentation style guide
Process:
If you're participating in our Writing Day session, here's what we'd like you to do:
- On Sunday (April 25), use your ticket to sign in to Hopin. Watch for Writing Day announcements about how to join us.
- Register for a GitLab account at https://gitlab.com/users/sign_in.
- Review our list of Good for new contributor issues.
- Pick an issue from the list. Let us know that you'd like to work on it, and give us your username so we can assign it to you. If we're busy, put this info in a comment in the issue (mention
@sselhorn
) and we will get to it as soon as possible! This comment will let others know that you plan to work on the issue. - Go to the gitlab repo and in the top-right, select Fork. This makes a local copy of the repo.
- Find the markdown page in your fork by going to the docs directory and following the path listed in the issue's title. If you know Git, you can make your changes and open a merge request. If not, never fear! Just follow these steps:
- In the top right, select Edit and make the changes to the markdown file.
- Now create a merge request. From the left menu, select Merge requests.
- For the source branch, you likely used master. The target branch is in the main GitLab repo under master.
- For the commit message, use 3-5 words, start with a capital letter, and do not end with a period.
- Select Commit changes. A merge request opens.
- Select the Documentation template. In the description:
- Write a brief summary of the changes.
- After the summary, insert the blurb below (make sure to remove the backticks around it.
Part of Write the Docs 2021 Writing Day
Related to: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/technical-writing/-/issues/426
Closes <replace this with issue link>
In the Writing Day session, let us know that you opened a merge request. If we're not available, please mention @sselhorn
in a comment in the merge request. This sends Suzanne a notification so she knows to look for your merge request.
Congrats on your first MR
If this is your first merge request to the GitLab project, you can fill in our first MR swag request form.