contributing-docs.md

Contribute to the documentation

Help improve the Photobooth docs by following these steps.

1) Fork and clone

• Fork the repository on GitHub, then clone your fork.
• Work from the dev branch for documentation changes.

2) Set up a docs environment

• Create and activate a virtual environment:

  python3 -m venv .venv
  source .venv/bin/activate
  

• Install MkDocs and the theme:

  pip install mkdocs mkdocs-material
  

3) Run the docs locally

• From the repo root, build the docs and start the preview server:

  mkdocs build --config-file mkdocs_remote.yml
  mkdocs serve -f mkdocs_remote.yml
  

• Open the URL shown in the terminal (typically http://127.0.0.1:8000) to review your changes live.

4) Edit guidelines

• Don't commit changes to the faq/ directory directly; it's generated from the docs/ source files during the build step. Your local build files are stored inside site/ and not tracked by git.
• Keep text concise and practical; prefer short paragraphs and bullet lists.
• Use relative links to other docs pages (e.g. faq/index.md), and ensure new pages are added to mkdocs_remote.yml.
• Place new images in docs/assets/ and reference them with relative paths.
• Stick to ASCII unless an existing page already uses extended characters.
• Check for build warnings (missing nav entries, broken links) before opening a PR.

5) Open a pull request

• Commit your changes to a feature branch on your fork.
• Open a PR against PhotoboothProject/photobooth targeting the dev branch.
• Include a brief summary of what you changed and how you tested the docs (e.g. mkdocs serve build output).