From f781b79802252e733da1c60624c6b08620ed5435 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: alextilot <alextilot@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 22 May 2023 12:45:13 -0500
Subject: [PATCH] docs: revise conventional commit description

---
 CONTRIBUTING.md      |  2 +-
 commitlint.config.js | 23 +++++++++++------------
 2 files changed, 12 insertions(+), 13 deletions(-)

diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 2782777a..211c0fc6 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@ This project uses commit hooks to automate some tasks, and these are managed via
 
 #### Conventional commits
 
-[Conventional commits](https://www.conventionalcommits.org/) is a standard format for commit messages, used to aid readability of commit history. This commit message format, with [these commit types](https://github.com/amelioro/ameliorate/blob/main/commitlint.config.js), is enforced in a commit hook via [commitlint](https://github.com/conventional-changelog/commitlint).
+[Conventional commits](https://www.conventionalcommits.org/) is a standard format for commit messages, used to aid readability of commit history. The format is `<type>[optional scope]: <description>` and an example commit message looks like `feat(header): add link to feedback page`. This commit message format, with [these commit types](https://github.com/amelioro/ameliorate/blob/main/commitlint.config.js), is enforced in a commit hook and github action via [commitlint](https://github.com/conventional-changelog/commitlint).
 
 #### Prettier
 
diff --git a/commitlint.config.js b/commitlint.config.js
index 5a928ecc..23f0d186 100644
--- a/commitlint.config.js
+++ b/commitlint.config.js
@@ -6,20 +6,19 @@ module.exports = {
     "type-enum": [
       2,
       "always",
-      // custom types should have comments explaining them
       [
-        "build",
-        "chore",
-        "ci",
-        "docs",
-        "feat",
-        "fix",
+        "build", // modifies the build process / pipeline for the application
+        "chore", // is a catch-all for any change that doesn't fit into another category
+        "ci", // modifies the continuous integration pipeline
+        "docs", // adds or improves documentation
+        "feat", // adds new functionality
+        "fix", // fixes a bug
         "touchup", // small improvement, too small for "feat" or "refactor"
-        "perf",
-        "refactor",
-        "revert",
-        "style",
-        "test",
+        "perf", // improves performance without functionality changes
+        "refactor", // doesn't add functionality and doesn't fix a bug
+        "revert", // undoes a previous commit
+        "style", // does not affect the meaning of the code (white-space, formatting, missing semi-colons, etc)
+        "test", // updates testing
       ],
     ],
   },