Contributing to the community

Question

I have recently found myself with some time on my hands and with no problem of my own, I would like to solve someone's problem. I'd like to contribute to the WP community how best would I be able to do this?

I would like to contribute in way of code. I can take a suggestion of a modules/features I could pick one, maybe the one with the most up votes.

Answer 1

The Codex has a page on how to contribute to WordPress. Some other ways to help:

• Help others with questions. On the WP.org support forums, here, or on other sites, it does not matter. Pick a question that has been open for a while and try to solve it. I have a tool to quickly start experimenting with code, and most of what I know about WordPress comes from answering questions here. It even made me write my first plugin for other developers.
• Improve the Codex. The same reason as answering questions: to explain something you must first understand it yourself. And the Codex is in need of some serious rewriting.
• Look at code written by others. You can volunteer to review themes: this will teach you about the coding standards and you'll learn interesting ways to use WordPress.
• Write code yourself. If you are not confident enough to write complete patches, you can also test new features or confirm new bug reports. By trying to isolate the bug you will also learn how the inner code works, and gain respect among your peers.

Answer 2

I roughly sort such stuff into following:

1. Contribute to WordPress as project (many ways - code, docs, debug, etc).

2. Contribute to related project (for example I use Hybrid theme framework so I pay for membership and try to spend some time helping on forums there).

3. Contribute to community in general (for example start a blog about WordPress, release public theme or plugin).
4. Contribute to individuals (stick here or official forums and answer questions).

If you are looking to improve your skills 4 is very efficient without much commitment.

Answer 3

The bug tracker (Trac) has a special corner for you: Needs patch. Good luck!

Answer 4

You can

• fix WP bugs
• write or contribute to plugins
• help with documentation
• hang out here or other WP sites to answer questions
• build and release themes

As for which module you should work on - well that should be your choice. Without knowing your skills and interests, how can I give you a good answer for what to do?

Answer 5

Please don't forget about the forums!

http://wordpress.org/support/

It's where most new people go for help, and we always need more help over there answering questions!

Answer 6

Stick around and answer as many questions as you can!