this post was submitted on 20 Dec 2023
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If you don't have coding skills, why don't you help foss software by making it more user friendly instead? (lemmy.giftedmc.com)
submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
115 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Disclaimer

Not trying to blame anyone here. I‘m just taking an idea I‘ve read and spinning it further:

Intro

A lot of people use free open source software (foss), Linux being one of them. But a lot less actually help make this software. If I ask them why, they always say „I don’t have the coding skills!“.

Maybe its worth pointing out that you don‘t need them. In a lot of cases it’s better to not have any so you can see stuff with a „consumer view“.

In that situation you can file issues on github and similar places. You can write descriptions that non technical people can understand. You can help translate and so on, all depending on your skills.

Other reasons?

I‘d really like to know so the foss community can talk about making it worthwile for non coders to participate.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I‘m sure a lot of people who correct text, add references, structure and pictures to a readme would disagree with you.

I‘m not sure if you‘re a coder but it you are, you should know that coding and usability are two entirely separate things.

[–] Carighan 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Oh...

You don't mean the readme file. You are talking about the manual, or the explanations on the website. Yeah that can make sense. Though I would still say it's weird if you're not too familiar with the direction the application is going, but an experienced user can of course help create better texts and pages for that.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Easy, just click the whatchamacallit, and add that little do-hicky!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Exactly. Thanks :)

[–] Carighan 2 points 1 year ago

This is why all my methods are called ˋdoStuffˋ.