5 simple ways anyone can contribute to Wagtail
Here are a few ways to squeeze a Wagtail contribution into your busy schedule that all take half an hour or less.
With Wagtail Space NL coming up next week, many people are thinking about the contributions they can make to Wagtail while they're together. Yet even if you can't make a sprint in person, or even if you feel like you're too busy to contribute, there are many small ways (and even some no-code ways) you can contribute to the Wagtail project. I've pulled together five different ways to contribute that will all take less than half an hour to complete.
Smash the star button in GitHub
Estimated time needed: < 1 min
How to contribute: Sign up for a GitHub account, click over to the Wagtail GitHub repository, and give Wagtail a star.
Why this matters: There are good reasons to doubt the value of GitHub stars as a measure of an open source project's success. Yet whether stars are best measure or not, developers as well as business leaders will often consider stars when they're deciding on what technologies they want to use in their next project. Having more stars will help show more people that Wagtail is a thriving project with an active community behind it. So if you haven't starred the repo yet, please do!
Take the Wagtail.org tree test
Estimated time needed: 5-10 min
How to contribute: Test new menu structures for Wagtail.org by taking our tree test.
Why this matters: Now that Wagtail 3.0 is out and the core team is working toward the next release, we're also looking at refreshing some of the content and pages on Wagtail.org as well. To help make sure people can find the information they need, we have some new options for menu structures on the Wagtail.org that we're testing with a tree test tool. By taking this test, you'll give us valuable information about whether the new menu organizations make sense and help us figure out which versions work better. If you want to go the extra mile, then share this link with others who are new to Wagtail: wagtail.org/treejacktest. The more data you help us gather, the better we can make Wagtail.org work for newcomers as well as our existing community.
Signal boost Wagtail news
Estimated time needed: <1 min - 10 min
How to contribute: Follow us on Twitter. Join our Slack community. Share your Wagtail enthusiasm on Reddit. Forward our email newsletter to a friend. Retweet, reblog, or reshare Wagtail news using signal flags or Morse code if that's your thing. We appreciate all forms of getting the word out!
Why this matters: Think about every great community that you've ever been a part of. How did you first hear about it? Chances are high that you heard about it from a friend or a group of people who encouraged you to check it out. Showing your enthusiasm for Wagtail helps our community grow.
Write a review on G2
Estimated time needed: 15-30 min
How to contribute: Sign up for an account on G2 and write a review for Wagtail.
Why this matters: Review sites are one of the first places many decision makers look to when they are considering a new tool or technology. While many savvy business leaders are aware that reviews can be manipulated, they are still a useful shortcut for getting information about the experiences others have had with a particular technology or tool. Many people pay attention to G2 reviews because their reviews often rank very high in search engine results, and they do a fairly thorough job of screening out fake reviews and other nonsense. Right now, Wagtail has 24 reviews on G2. Could you fit in review number 25 today? I think you can.
Provide constructive feedback in an open discussion
Estimated time needed: 15-30 min
How to contribute: Write some feedback in GitHub in one of our open discussions.
Why this matters: Our core team and other contributors often have ideas to improve Wagtail but they want input from other people before pursuing them. The Discussions section of the Wagtail repository on GitHub is where they go to gather that feedback. Even if you're not a developer yourself, your thoughts on a new potential feature or improvement are very valuable. Don't let thoughts like "I don't know enough code" or "I'm not technical enough" ever stop you from joining the conversation. We want to hear from people with all sorts of backgrounds and experiences.
Need more inspiration?
Hopefully, those ideas will encourage you to make even a small contribution to Wagtail this week. If you want more contribution ideas, you can find plenty being discussed in our Slack community. The newest discussion topics are also included regularly in our email newsletter This Week in Wagtail. If you want an extra boost of inspiration, there's also still a little time to sign up for the live broadcast of all the fabulous talks happening at Wagtail Space NL.