Contributing to strength-meter
==============================
Looking to contribute something to strength-meter? **Here's how you can help.**

Please take a moment to review this document in order to make the contribution
process easy and effective for everyone involved.

Following these guidelines helps to communicate that you respect the time of
the developers managing and developing this open source project. In return,
they should reciprocate that respect in addressing your issue or assessing
patches and features.

Using the issue tracker
-----------------------
When [reporting bugs][reporting-bugs] or
[requesting features][requesting-features], the
[issue tracker on GitHub][issue-tracker] is the recommended channel to use.

The issue tracker **is not** a place for support requests. Refer the 
[plugin documentation](http://plugins.krajee.com/strength-meter), 
[plugin demos](http://plugins.krajee.com/strength-meter/demo), and / or refer to the
[webtips Q & A forum](http://webtips.krajee.com/questions) which are the better places to get help.

Reporting bugs with strength-meter
----------------------------------
We really appreciate clear bug reports that _consistently_ show an issue
_within strength-meter_.

The ideal bug report follows these guidelines:

1. **Use the [GitHub issue search][issue-search]**  &mdash; Check if the issue
   has already been reported.
2. **Check if the issue has been fixed**  &mdash; Try to reproduce the problem
   using the code in the `master` branch.
3. **Isolate the problem**  &mdash; Try to create an
   [isolated js fiddle][isolated-case] that consistently reproduces the problem.

Please try to be as detailed as possible in your bug report, especially if an
isolated test case cannot be made. Some useful questions to include the answer
to are:

- What steps can be used to reproduce the issue?
- What is the bug and what is the expected outcome?
- What browser(s) and Operating System have you tested with?
- Does the bug happen consistently across all tested browsers?
- What version of jQuery are you using? And what version of strength-meter?
- Are you using strength-meter with other plugins?

All of these questions will help others fix and identify any potential bugs.

Requesting features in strength-meter
-----------------------------------------
Before starting work on a major feature for strength-meter, **read the
[documentation](http://plugins.krajee.com/strength-meter)  first** or you may risk spending a considerable amount of
time on something which the project developers are not interested in bringing into the project.

### Submitting a pull request

We use GitHub's pull request system for submitting patches. Here are some
guidelines to follow when creating the pull request for your fix.

1. Make sure to create a ticket for your pull request. This will serve as the
bug ticket, and any discussion about the bug will take place there. Your pull
request will be focused on the specific changes that fix the bug.
2. Make sure to reference the ticket you are fixing within your pull request.
This will allow us to close off the ticket once we merge the pull request, or
follow up on the ticket if there are any related blocking issues.
3. Explain why the specific change was made. Not everyone who is reviewing your
pull request will be familiar with the problem it is fixing.
4. Run your tests first. If your tests aren't passing, the pull request won't
be able to be merged. If you're breaking existing tests, make sure that you
aren't causing any breaking changes.
5. Only include source changes. While it's not required, only including changes
from the `src` directory will prevent merge conflicts from occuring. Making
this happen can be as a simple as not committing changes from the `dist`
directory.

By following these steps, you will make it easier for your pull request to be
reviewed and eventually merged.

Triaging issues and pull requests
---------------------------------
Anyone can help the project maintainers triage issues and review pull requests.

### Handling new issues

strength-meter regularly receives new issues which need to be tested and organized.

When a new issue that comes in that is similar to another existing issue, it
should be checked to make sure it is not a duplicate.  Duplicates issues should
be marked by replying to the issue with "Duplicate of #[issue number]" where
`[issue number]` is the url or issue number for the existing issue.  This will
allow the project maintainers to quickly close off additional issues and keep
the discussion focused within a single issue.

If you can test issues that are reported to strength-meter that contain test cases and
confirm under what conditions bugs happen, that will allow others to identify
what causes a bug quicker.

### Reviewing pull requests

It is very common for pull requests to be opened for issues that contain a clear
solution to the problem.  These pull requests should be rigorously reviewed by
the community before being accepted.  If you are not sure about a piece of
submitted code, or know of a better way to do something, do not hesitate to make
a comment on the pull request.

### Reviving old tickets

If you come across tickets which have not been updated for a while, you are
encouraged to revive them. While this can be as simple as saying `:+1:`, it is
best if you can include more information on the issue. Common bugs and feature
requests are more likely to be fixed, whether it is by the community or the
developers, so keeping tickets up to date is encouraged.

Licensing
---------

It should also be made clear that **all code contributed to strength-meter** must be
licensable under the [BSD-3 license][licensing].  Code that cannot be released
under this license **cannot be accepted** into the project.

[isolated-case]: https://jsfiddle.net/
[issue-search]: https://github.com/kartik-v/strength-meter/search?q=&type=Issues
[issue-tracker]: https://github.com/kartik-v/strength-meter/issues
[licensing]: https://github.com/kartik-v/strength-meter/blob/master/LICENSE.md
[reporting-bugs]: #reporting-bugs-with-strength-meter
[requesting-features]: #requesting-features-in-strength-meter