GitHub instructions - w3c/wcag2ict GitHub Wiki

Notifications

GitHub can inundate your inbox with email if your notifications are set to watch all activity (the default). Be sure to modify them to a level that's comfortable for you. There are two ways to handle GitHub notifications:

  • Set up an email rule: Notifications come from [email protected], so set up an email rule to put them into a particular folder
  • Adjust your watch level: By default, when you join in on a repository you have the maximum notifications - ALL of them. To adjust the notifications for the wcag2ict repository, do the following:
  1. Go to the wcag2ict repository.
  2. Open the Unwatch drop-down on the top right
  3. Change to your desired setting. Suggest you use either Participating and @mentions or Ignore.

There are other ways to set up notifications more globally. If you want to check those out, go to the GitHub resource Configuring notifications.

Issues

Issues are how we receive comments on the draft Note and how chunks of work will be broken up and tracked for progress. Issues go into our agile pipeline for the GitHub WCAG2ICT Note Update project where they can be prioritized and taken up by task force participants to weigh in on and complete.

Actions you can take regarding issues:

  • Open a new issue
  • Tagging
  • Assigning someone
  • Filtering
  • Commenting
  • Adding milestones
  • Mentioning others using @mention (e.g. @maryjom)
  • Referencing other issues using #Issue number
  • Referencing pull requests with changes made due to handling the issue

GitHub help topics for issues

Markdown

GitHub uses Markdown for composing and replying to issues. Markdown basic writing and formatting syntax is surprisingly easy to pick up.

Making changes in your own branch

I've created a couple of videos for you to test out making some changes.

  1. Using the GitHub Web UI to propose changes with the password: XtfRfKW5
  2. Using GitHub desktop and a desktop code editor to propose changes with the password: pXDwP4Da

Creating a branch

A branch is a copy of the code repository for you to work with. All users can do the following to create their working branch directly from the web interface.

  1. Go to the WCAG2ICT GitHub repository
  2. Click on Main dropdown and you should see an entry field that's labeled find or create a branch...
  3. In that entry field, type in a new branch that's yours. Start with your initials, then add -test-branch (e.g. mjm-test-branch) and then activate the create branch: your-test-branch from main to create it. In the future, you'll name the branch specific to what you are working on - either an issue number and/or a 2-3 word description like add-1-1-1. You cannot use unusual characters or spaces in the branch name.
  4. Check that main changed to your-branch-name

Making changes to the file

Right now the entire WCAG2ICT document is in a single file called index.html. If you want to make changes:

  1. Activate the Go to file button
  2. Click on index.html in the list of files
  3. Use the pencil (edit) icon dropdown select Edit this file
  4. Change the line wrap mode from No wrap to Soft wrap so you don't have to scroll in 2 directions.
  5. Make your edits.
  6. Scroll to the bottom and in the entry field, add a few words to describe the change. Note, this field will either be labeled "Commit changes" if you had manually created your own branch or "Propose changes" if you are letting GitHub automatically create a branch.
  7. If you aren't already working from your own branch, GitHub will let you automatically create a new one off of main and will create a pull request for you.
  8. Use the Propose changes button to save your work.

NOTE: If you had manually created your own branch, instead of seeing a Propose changes button, you'll see a Commit changes button. Additionally, a pull request won't automatically be created, so you'll have to manually do that.

Creating a Pull Request