You signed in with another tab or window. Reload to refresh your session.You signed out in another tab or window. Reload to refresh your session.You switched accounts on another tab or window. Reload to refresh your session.Dismiss alert
description: "Discover how high-quality documentation plays a vital role in the success of open source projects, fostering adoption, user satisfaction, and developer collaboration. Learn best practices for creating comprehensive and accessible documentation that empowers the community."
7
+
---
8
+
9
+
Maybe I’m biased because I spent ten years teaching college English before coming into tech. Or maybe it’s because I’ve seen projects fail because of poor documentation. Whatever the reason, I believe that documentation plays a huge role in the success and growth of an open source project. Effective documentation empowers developers to understand and utilize the project as well as fosters adoption, creates user satisfaction, and allows for a more seamless collaboration within the community. In order to ensure that happens, we need to understand the significance of documentation in open source along with best practices for creating comprehensive and accessible documentation.
10
+
11
+
<!-- truncate -->
12
+
13
+
## Why Documentation Matters
14
+
15
+
I remember trying out a really popular framework right after graduating bootcamp. The documentation was comprehensive, but it was unwieldy. I had no idea where I had come from or where I was going. There was no clear progression in the docs, which ultimately led to me giving up and moving to a different framework.
16
+
17
+
> Documentation is an essential resource for developers, acting as a guidebook for understanding project features, APIs, configurations, and usage.
18
+
19
+
Here's why documentation matters in the context of open source:
20
+
21
+
1.**Enabling Adoption:** Clear and well-structured documentation lowers the barrier to entry, making it easier for developers to understand and start using the open source project. It can facilitate adoption by providing installation instructions, usage examples, and integration guides.
22
+
23
+
2.**Empowering User Satisfaction:** Well-documented projects lead to better user experiences. Comprehensive documentation ensures that users can effectively leverage the project's capabilities, troubleshoot issues, and find answers to their questions, ultimately increasing user satisfaction.
24
+
25
+
3.**Encouraging Collaboration:** Documentation is the foundation for collaboration within the open source community. When contributors have access to accurate and up-to-date documentation, they can effectively contribute code, submit bug fixes, and improve the project's overall quality.
26
+
27
+
## Best Practices for Documentation in Open Source
28
+
29
+
One of the challenges of documentation–or any form of long writing–is creating a well-organized document that doesn’t give too much information but empowers the user to get started without having a lack of understanding. Here are some tips for creating good documentation:
30
+
31
+
1.**Keep it Comprehensive:** Cover all aspects of your project, including installation instructions, configuration options, API reference, code examples, and troubleshooting guides. Providing clear and meaningful examples can help the user to better understand the documentation. As part of your documentation, be sure to include a CONTRIBUTING.md file.
32
+
33
+
:::tip
34
+
Check out [How to make a delicious contributing guide](https://dev.to/opensauced/how-to-make-a-delicious-contributing-guide-4bp3) for more information on creating a contributing guide.
35
+
:::
36
+
37
+
2.**Focus on Clarity and Simplicity:** Use simple language and clear explanations to ensure that developers of all skill levels can understand your documentation. Break down complex concepts into digestible chunks, and provide code snippets and visual aids to enhance comprehension.
38
+
39
+
3.**Provide Usage Examples:** Demonstrate real-world use cases and provide practical examples that illustrate how to implement features or solve common problems. Developers appreciate concrete examples that they can reference and build upon. The caveat is that if you provide too many examples, it can be hard for the user to navigate through the documentation. There are a couple of different ways to handle that. If you can, make the examples dynamic. Allow the user to choose their level and provide examples that work for that level. Another option is to have a section for examples according to the level. Finally, you might also mention and link to examples in the documentation that clearly shows the level of expertise needed for that example.
40
+
41
+
4.**Keep it Up-to-Date:** Documentation should evolve alongside the project. Regularly review and update the documentation to reflect the latest changes, new features, and best practices. Encourage community contributions to keep the documentation fresh and accurate. Because this is often a great place for new contributors to start, you can create issues to have documentation updated, but be sure to link to the contributing and style guides.
42
+
43
+
5.**Make it Searchable and Accessible:** Ensure that your documentation is easily discoverable and searchable. Use a clear structure, table of contents, and a search functionality to help users find the information they need quickly. Consider providing alternative formats, such as offline documentation or downloadable PDFs, to accommodate different user preferences.
44
+
45
+
6.**Encourage Feedback and Contribution:** Actively seek feedback from the communityand provide channels for users and contributors to suggest improvements, report issues, and contribute to the documentation itself. Encourage the community to engage in discussions and share their experiences.
46
+
47
+
Creating comprehensive, clear, and accessible documentation, empowers developers to understand and leverage your project effectively. Because it’s an ongoing effort, requiring regular updates and community involvement, you’ll need to invest time and effort into creating and upkeeping your documentation. The benefit is you’ll have fewer questions, better onboarding for new contributors, and likely more users.
Copy file name to clipboardexpand all lines: blog/2024/2024-02-12-three-open-source-alternatives-to-calendly.md
+26-22
Original file line number
Diff line number
Diff line change
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
1
1
---
2
2
title: Three open source alternatives to Calendly
3
-
tags: []
3
+
tags: [open source, productivity, collaboration, calendly, fossify calendar, cal.com, easy!appointments]
4
4
authors: BekahHW
5
5
slug: three-open-source-alternatives-to-calendly
6
6
description: "Check out three open source alternatives to calendly to schedule your life!"
@@ -10,12 +10,12 @@ description: "Check out three open source alternatives to calendly to schedule y
10
10
11
11
<hr/>
12
12
13
-
Chances are, you either have a calendar schedule or you've interacted with someone else's scheduler. I have been incredibly resistant to having one myself, although I have tried (and didn't *love*) Calendly in the past to help schedule podcast episodes. At this point, it's necessary for me to have a way to easily schedule meeting, kids' events, and whatever else is happening. To do this, I investigated [three open source alternatives to Calendly](https://app.opensauced.pizza/pages/BekahHW/1199/dashboard): cal.com, Fossify Calendar, and Easy!Appointments.
13
+
Chances are, you either have a calendar schedule or you've interacted with someone else's scheduler. I have been incredibly resistant to having one myself, although I have tried (and didn't *love*) Calendly in the past to help schedule podcast episodes. At this point, it's necessary for me to have a way to easily schedule meeting, kids' events, and whatever else is happening. To do this, I investigated [three open source alternatives to Calendly](https://app.opensauced.pizza/workspaces/127e8633-bace-4bae-814b-b36695e87de0): cal.com, Fossify Calendar, and Easy!Appointments.
> Meet Cal.com, the event-juggling scheduler for everyone. Focus on meeting, not making meetings. Free for individuals.
47
47
48
48
Cal.com offers a comprehensive, API-driven scheduling infrastructure, which creates opportunities for customization and integration with other tools like Google Calendar and Zoom. It offers a variety of event types, including, secret events, availability schedule, minimum notics, requires confirmation, recurring events, and more. There's also an option for paid bookings, dynamic group links, and more options with their app store.
49
49
50
-
Cal.com has by far, the most active open source community and support for their project, and maybe that's reflected in the number of features they offer as well..
50
+
Cal.com has by far, the most active open source community and support for their project, and maybe that's reflected in the number of features they offer as well.
*Note: since February, we've seen continual growth with Cal.com as seen below.*
61
+
62
+
[](https://app.opensauced.pizza/s/calcom/cal.com?range=180)
> SCHEDULE ANYTHING. Let's start with easy! Get the best free online appointment scheduler on your server, today.
63
67
64
68
Easy!Appointments supports online booking for individuals or teams, and offers features like: appointment and customer management, services and service providers that are configurable, business workflow and booking rules, Google calendar synchronization, email notification support, group sessions support, API and webhook interfaces for automations and integrations, and more.
65
69
66
70
Despite a steady increase in starts from 2016 until now, Easy!Appointments seems to be slowing down. You can see by the contributions graph below, but also if you go to the repository, code hasn't been merged in during the last two months.
@@ -99,4 +103,4 @@ If you're trying to make a decision, about which to pick, here are some of my ad
99
103
100
104
## Takeaways
101
105
102
-
Depending on your needs, there will be different decisions for everyone here. I will say, as a recent cal.com user, I'm finding the process to be very positive, but I'm only using the most basic features. I'm looking forward to implementing more of their offerings soon for some of my upcoming projects though! If you have an open source productivity tool you'd like to recommend, drop it in the comments below.
106
+
Depending on your needs, there will be different decisions for everyone here. I will say, as a recent cal.com user, I'm finding the process to be very positive, but I'm only using the most basic features. I'm looking forward to implementing more of their offerings soon for some of my upcoming projects though! If you have an open source productivity tool you'd like to recommend, drop it in the comments below. To learn more about the cal.com contributors, including their OSCR, check out their [contributor tab](https://app.opensauced.pizza/s/calcom/cal.com/contributors?range=30).
description: "Learn how to add OpenSauced Dev Cards to your GitHub Profile using GitHub Actions."
7
+
---
8
+
9
+
Last week, we launched our brand new Dev Cards with the OSCR (Open Source Contributor Rating) highlighted on the front to make it easier for you to showcase your impact in open source. To make it even easier, I've cooked up a little GitHub Action that'll automatically update your Dev Card on your GitHub profile.
10
+
11
+
<!-- truncate -->
12
+
13
+
14
+
In this post, we're gonna dive into what Dev Cards are all about, how this new GitHub Action works, and how you can get it set up.
15
+
16
+
## OpenSauced Dev Cards
17
+
18
+
At OpenSauced, we created [dev cards to showcase your open source stats](https://opensauced.pizza/docs/features/dev-card/).
19
+
20
+
We also [recently introduced the OSCR score](https://opensauced.pizza/blog/introducing-OSCR) which appears prominently on dev cards now.
21
+
22
+
If you head on over to your OpenSauced profile page, you can see your dev card now. Here's [my OpenSauced profile](https://oss.fyi/nickytonline). There's a little pizza card button you can press to see it.
23
+
24
+
25
+
26
+
The card is interactive and can be flipped.
27
+
28
+
29
+
30
+
## Introducing the OpenSauced Dev Card GitHub Action
31
+
32
+
To make it easier to showcase your contributions, I've developed a GitHub Action that automates the process of fetching your OpenSauced dev card (static version) and updating it in your GitHub profile README.
33
+
34
+
You can check it out [here](https://github.com/nickytonline/open-sauced-dev-card-action)
35
+
36
+
This means you can have an always up-to-date representation of your open source contributions from OpenSauced stats right on your GitHub profile.
37
+
38
+
Here's mine on [my GitHub profile](https://github.com/nickytonline)
39
+
40
+
41
+
42
+
### How It Works
43
+
44
+
1. The action runs on a schedule (default is daily at midnight UTC) or can be triggered manually.
45
+
2. It fetches your dev card image from OpenSauced.
46
+
3. The image is saved to your profile README repository.
47
+
4. Your README is automatically updated with the new image.
48
+
49
+
### Setting It Up
50
+
51
+
[View the GitHub action on the GitHub Action Marketplace](https://github.com/marketplace/actions/opensauced-dev-card-action)
52
+
53
+
To use this action in your own GitHub profile, follow these steps:
54
+
55
+
1. Create a workflow file (e.g., `.github/workflows/update-open-sauced-dev-card.yml`) in your profile README repository.
3. Replace "your_username" with your actual GitHub username.
78
+
79
+
4. Add the following markdown to your README.md:
80
+
81
+
```markdown
82
+
[](https://oss.fyi/your_username)
83
+
```
84
+
85
+
Again, replace your_username with your actual GitHub username.
86
+
87
+
5. Run the GitHub action manually the first time if you want to get an initial image. It's not a big deal if you don't, but it'll mean the image will look broken until the first time the action runs at midnight UTC.
88
+
89
+
## Making the Most of Your Dev Card: Tips & Tricks
90
+
91
+
If you want to make the most of your dev card on your GitHub profile? Here are some tips:
92
+
93
+
- **Prime Real Estate**: Place your card where you think it will be noticed on your README. First impressions count, and you want visitors to see your open source contributions. Maybe place it between your "About Me" and your "Current Projects" for a well-rounded profile.
94
+
- **Context is Key**: Don't just leave your card hanging there. Add some text to introduce it. Something like: "Check out my open source contribution snapshot!"
95
+
96
+
## The Secret Sauce: Understanding Your OSCR Score
97
+
98
+
Think of the OSCR as your open source score that looks at:
99
+
- Your contribution frequency
100
+
- The quality of your contributions
101
+
- Your ability to start and be a part of open source conversations
102
+
103
+
Your OSCR score provides a quick snapshot of your open source activity and impact. It gives people an idea of how active and influential you are in the open source community.
104
+
105
+
Like any metric, your open source experience is about more than just one number.
106
+
107
+
## Conclusion
108
+
109
+
Open source contributions are a fantastic way to grow as a developer and give back to the community. With this GitHub Action and OpenSauced, you can easily showcase your efforts and inspire others to get involved.
110
+
111
+
Give it a try and let me know what you think!
112
+
113
+
Stay saucy peeps!
114
+
115
+
If you would like to know more about my work in open source, [follow me on OpenSauced](https://oss.fyi/nickytonline).
0 commit comments