Improve contribution workflow for simple changes
I noticed that GitLab supports rendering .rst
files though this does not seem to work for this repo (I assume it should also work in CE, not just EE, but I'm not sure of this). If this could be made to work, it should allow an easier workflow for contributing simple changes to the HIG. The main benefit is that everything could be done from within the browser, making it much easier for new contributors to get involved.
The workflow I'm suggesting would be:
- Fork the hig-kde-org repo on invent.kde.org.
- In your forked repo, edit the file you wish to change by navigating to it and clicking the Edit button.
- Use the Preview tab to verify that your changes had the desired effect.
- When you're satisfied with the changes you made, commit them to a new branch and submit a merge request using the web interface.
- This can simply be done by specifying the commit message and a new branch name at the bottom of the Edit page. The web interface also allows you to directly create a merge request for this commit by simply checking a checkbox.
- Fill out the merge request as you normally would, making sure all 3 checkboxes are checked, and submit the merge request.
This is essentially the same as the current workflow. The only difference is that the files are edited in the web interface instead of locally. This means you don't have to use git or setup Sphinx, making it much easier to contribute something small.
Limitations
- This is only suitable for single-file changes as the web interface requires you to commit each edited page separately
- You can only preview rendered reStructuredText markup. So anything that's specific to Sphinx would not be rendered.
- The submitted change is tested less extensively. The rendered preview from GitLab is not necessarily exactly the same as what's rendered with Sphinx.
These limitations might still be acceptable for allowing new contributors to get involved more easily.