How to Help

No matter what your skills, there is sure to be one way or another in which you can contribute to the categoryi module project. This page is loosely based on the contribute to Drupal page on drupal.org, and you should look at that page too, if you're interested in contributing to the wider Drupal community. Listed below are the major ways in which you can help with the category module, and a quick guide for each one:

Help with development

If you have experience in programming with PHP, in database development with MySQL, and (most importantly) in developing with Drupal - and you have an active interest in this project - then your skills as a developer would be most welcome here. The best way to kick off as a developer would be to submit patches for bugs or for new features, or to fix existing issues that other users have reported.

If you find that you've submitted a lot of patches, and that you've become something of a regular contributor to the category module, you may be interested in becoming an official maintainer. If interested (and if you already have a drupal-contrib CVS account), please contact me (Jaza), and I'll let you know if you are granted official maintainer status. If you become an official maintainer, you will be permitted to commit changes directly to CVS, and to review and commit other people's patches. Nobody is to make CVS commits without being granted official maintainer status.

Help with documentation

Not everyone can program, but almost everyone can read and write. One of the best ways you can contribute is by adding pages of documentation to this site. You can become a documentation contributor simply by registering on this site, and by logging in (or by using your existing Drupal login here). Once logged in, you will see that at the bottom of most pages of the site, a link labelled 'add child category' is displayed. Wherever you'd like to add a new page, simply click this link, and you'll be taken to a form where you can write your new content. You'll generally want to add your new page somewhere within the docs section of the site.

Enter the title, the body text, and any other relevant information on the form, and then hit 'preview' or 'submit'. Once you submit a new category, it will remain unpublished until it is reviewed by a site administrator. Badly worded, badly spelled, or misinforming pages may be edited before being published, and irrelevant or inappropriate pages may be deleted altogether. What you write, and where you put it, is completely up to you: it could be things such as simple tutorials; reference guides; tips for hacking; or success stories. This site is an open slate, just waiting to be filled up and crafted by a community of eager hands.

If you've contributed a lot of documentation, and if you have some experience in editing or publishing, you may with to contact me (Jaza), and ask to be granted editor status. Site editors are able to edit and review all content on the site. Other users do not have permission to edit others' content.

Help by testing

At the simplest level, testing simply involves using the category module - whether for real-life use, or for actual testing purposes - and reporting back any problems that you may encounter. As well as reporting bugs, usability and contextual documentation feedback is also greatly appreciated. The more people there are using and testing the category module, the more stable and bug-free it will become.

Help by translating

If you speak a language other than English, you may wish to translate the user interface of the category module. Ideally, anyone wishing to provide a translation should have a drupal-contrib CVS account; but if not, you can simply send your translation files to me. Please read the Drupal translator's guide for detailed instructions on how to translate a Drupal module. Translators with a CVS account should contact me (Jaza) directly, and I will generally allow you to commit your translation directly to the repository. Other translators should contact me as well, and send me your files which I can commit on your behalf.

Help by designing

Think the images on this site could use some work? Think the category module documents could use a better template? Think the module needs some cool new logos and banners? Graphic designers, feel free to let your creative energies flow into efforts such as these, and to get your work shown in whatever way is appropriate. Please contact me (Jaza) if you have designed any artwork for this site or for the category module, and we can discuss where the best home would be for your work.

Help by giving feedback

If you can't do anything else, you can always give feedback! Thought of some features that the category module doesn't have, but should? Think the user interface is really clunky? Want to just air your profound hatred and malice for a module that's let you down and has put your company millions of dollars into debt? (I really hope that last one never happens!) Please let us know about it, whatever it is that's on your mind.