We're glad you're thinking about contributing to an 18F open source project!
No one's perfect — especially not us. If you think our guide got something wrong, please let us know. If you're unsure about anything, ask us — or submit the issue or pull request anyway. We love all friendly contributions, and we welcome your ideas about how to keep our UX Guide updated, friendly, and accessible.
Our process for changing the guide is as follows:
You'll file an issue or submit a pull request asking for a change. (Be sure to let us know why you made the request!). Members of the UX Guide team will discuss the proposed change and comment on your issue. We'll either add the issue to our backlog so that we can prioritize the work required to implement your change or leave you a note explaining why we chose not to.
- Filing an issue. See something amiss? Please glance through the existing issues to see if someone has already raised your issue before filing a new issue using our feature request or content change template.
- Submitting a pull request. Got a better solution in mind? Please glance through our existing pull requests to see if we're already working on a similar idea before submitting a new pull request.
All issues and pull requests will be reviewed with the guide goals in mind.
- Read the description of the pull request or issue. Seek to understand the author's perspective.
- Copy edits: correct and merge
- Broken links: correct and merge
- Plain-language: review against 18F content guide, update and merge
- New content: review against the below criteria
- Does it contradict any existing 18F research guidelines?
- Does it fill a gap in the current guide? (use the framework,
By reading [new] section of the UX guide, 18F staff will be able to) - Will it be useful/appropriate for our audiences? If in doubt, refer to the guide goals
- Draft or edit new content as needed
- New content needs to be approved by both PMs and TTs Outreach
- Provide comments on the pull request on GitHub, as necessary. If relevant, offer alternative implementations.
To ensure a welcoming environment for our projects, our staff follows the 18F Code of Conduct. Contributors should do the same.
This project is maintained in accordance with 18F’s Open Source Policy.
This project is in the public domain within the United States, and copyright and related rights in the work worldwide are waived through the CC0 1.0 Universal public domain dedication. All contributions to this project will be released under the CC0 dedication. By submitting a pull request, you are agreeing to comply with this waiver of copyright interest.