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Help projects Open source without knowing how to program is an article written thanks also to the collaboration of RebelCode (XR Italy)
An article that is particularly close to our hearts because we'll talk about collaboration and of Open source. We want to dispel a myth, or at least a cliché, according to which only geeks can help projects Open source. However, it is possible help projects Open source without knowing how to program.
This site was born precisely from the need to make as many people as possible understand that Open source is not synonymous with nerd and that it's not just the addicted who use it. We have seen that there are many products Open source (not necessarily free) that are accessible to everyone. As ProtonMail, Telegram or Firefox. Our site is also built thanks to a project Open source, in fact we use WordPress. WordPress is a mammoth project, think about it over 30% of all websites uses technology WordPress.
Help projects Open source without knowing how to program: UX and UI
What not everyone knows, however, is that in order to help projects Open source You don't always need to know anything about programming. This is because a project is generally made up of many parts and programming is only the "engine" of the project. However, there are just as many important components such as UX and the UI, for example.
Don't let acronyms scare you: UX it means "user experience design”, while UI stands for "user thenterface design”. In practice with UX we mean the user experience, or the interaction between the user and the product. With the term UI, however, refers to the actual graphics.
UI is the saddle, the stirrups, and the reins. UX is the feeling you get being able to ride the horse.
—Dain Miller, Web Developer
“UI it is the saddle, the stirrups and the reins. UX it's the feeling of being able to ride the horse.”
It is therefore immediately clear why anyone can lend a hand, even if terms like “git” and sites like “GitHub" And "GitLab” may seem complicated. We cannot and do not want to summarize the technical peculiarity of these sites in a few lines in this article. However, be aware that within these sites there is the open code of the various projects.
Help projects Open source without knowing how to program: the issues
You can interact with the entire community that participates in the project and with the author in a really simple way. In fact, on every project you can find the words "issues” which means problems. So if you are a graphic designer you don't necessarily have to know how to use the system."pull requests” (which is used to merge your code with the original one). But you can also just help the community reporting UX and UI defects.
You can do this on all projects Open source that allow it.
Firefox Mozilla for example, it allows you to report defects or advantages of the latest versions even more easily with a convenient survey: FirefoxInput
Also Telegram which, for those who don't know it yet, is excellent alternative to Whatsapp (but not only that, it's a real alternative social network) has a dedicated page precisely to the help that can be given and has recently introduced a platform dedicated to bugs and suggestions: bugs.telegram.org.
Or Signal, which has a very active community where you can report suggestions, ideas or problems.
Before getting to our suggestions, we recommend this thread on Twitter where many methods on how to contribute to projects are summarized Open source without knowing how to program: link Twitter (link Nitter).
Here are some ways to help projects Open source without knowing how to program
Mozilla Common Voice
There Italian Mozilla community is one of the most active ever and the Mozilla Voice project It's really interesting and anyone can participate. We won't go into too much technical detail about the project (if you're interested you can find various info here and also here). But if you come in Mozilla Common Voice you can help create a project Open source of voice technology to talk to our machines. All you need to do is listen to some sentences to validate them or, giving your voice, read some sentences aloud.
That's all!
Tradurre Telegram
The translations they're one of the easiest ways we have to help a project grow big. In fact, if a project speaks multiple languages, it is easier for a greater number of people to use it. Help translate Telegram it's really very simple. By connecting to this page: translations.telegram.org, in fact, in an instant you will have the possibility to translate Telegram into any language!
Wikipedia
The project Open source par excellence. Wikipedia it is in fact one collaborative online encyclopedia, anyone can write and delete articles extremely quickly and easily.
Are you not an expert in anything? Or is everything you are an expert in already widely covered? No problem: Wikipedia is also full of small errors, typos or wrong links. If you notice it while browsing Don't shrug and ignore the problem because “someone will notice anyway”. In a few seconds you can report the thing by modifying it directly!
Openstreetmap
There Wikipedia of maps! OpenStreetMap it's an incredible project Open source Of mapping the world. Anyone can participate adding, removing And reporting places. Don't work free for Google, do it for the community Open source! Among other things, there is a free application StreetComplete, a fun way to edit maps OSM playing. Someone defined it the ethical alternative to Pokemon Go! 😁
LibreOffice
One of the best free alternatives and Open source Microsoft Office, LibreOffice, is always looking for help from the community. There is also a site called “What can I do for LibreOffice” which will help you find your way by directing you towards what you are best suited for.
Here is also a nice explanatory video:
This video is served thanks to the decentralized platform and Open source PeerTube, through one of the Italian instances: video,linux.it. PeerTube does not collect data of any kind and does not use it Cookies.
Open source design
This is a site that contains design requests on projects Open source. Do you have free time, do you want to keep in training or even just Would you like to help some stranger? This site collects free requests but also for a fee for projects Open source. You can browse it to see if there is something that intrigues you and help the community!
Libre Logos
Free Logos is a very interesting project on GitHub 1 which aims to be an important resource for those who create programs Open source.
To avoid abuse, projects that intend to adopt a logo they must meet a series of requirements and follow a certain process to apply for them.
Obviously other designers can also contribute to the creation of logos, so if you dabble in this field and want to contribute to projects Open source, here's one way to do it!
Hosted Weblate- Traduci progetti Open source
Weblate is a web tool for translating projects with a simple and clear interface. You can request a Hosting even for free and ask the community for help with translation. Here find the list of all the projects that need translations into Italian, here of all other languages.
Snowflake, un fiocco di neve per Tor
Without any technical knowledge and without any risk you can help people who need to use Tor for their safety. If you live in a free and democratic country without censorship you can install theextension Snowflake on Firefox or up Browsers Chromium and help those who use the Tor network. Alternatively you can use this page on our site to enable Snowflakes without installing any extensions.
DONAZIONI
We never stop repeating it: most projects Open source they are born out of passion not for profit. If you have even the slightest possibility, it is almost always possible to donate something to the project. Even just one euro a month it might help someone keep the project alive for example by paying the server on which the project is based. We won't suggest any to you, but if you use some that you are fond of, you could also think about making a small single or monthly donation. If you want to take a look at the projects looking for contributions you can look up Open Collective, many collectives Open source they use this tool to raise funds.
Finally, suggest us on Mastodon 2 also to add Liberapay. It's a project Open source 3 which helps other projects receive donations without withholding any percentage. Among many it is used by Gimp, F-Droid, MicroG, Matrix And Deltachat: all the Teams and the Organizations.
Join communities
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