openFIRST Contributor's HOWTO

[Timothy D. Ginn]

Hey,

As some of you know (but most probably do not), I'm working on a pretty extensive HOWTO document (http://www.openfirst.org/doc/tut/howto/) which is supposed to explain the way things currently are to new people who may be interested in contributing to the project; and give people an idea of what roles can be taken on. It's a bit tricky to write because I'm trying to find the right balance of friendly plain English introductory text and technical information. Here's my goal for the general approach of the document (taken from the first paragraph of the Approach heading of the Preface section)

For the most part, this document is broken down into two main sections. The first section is general information that is useful background knowledge for all contributors; I would suggest that everyone read this part. The second situation is oriented around specific roles that you may wish to take as a contributor. A brief description of all of the roles is provided at the beginning of this section, and I would suggest that you read the information for all roles that sound appealing to you. In general, the brief descriptions provide as much information about the role as someone not considering taking it on would need. All sections of this document are clearly marked as to what roles they pertain to.

Does anyone have any suggestions for the type of useful background knowledge that could be given in such a document? I'm aiming not only at specific openFIRST stuff, but also at general things like PHP and web design. I'd also appreciate any proof reading that people here could do; and any questions that they have about the openFIRST project itself so that answers may be included in the HOWTO (and of course replied to through whatever medium they are sent from).

Cheers,

Tim