To baby devs and lurkers on Windows: there's a brand new guide! well almost brand new...

[ninetydegrees]

If you didn't know about it there's a guide for Windows users on the Wiki. I've been updating it for a while and I think it covers all the essentials now (suggestions and constructive criticism are always welcome, though!). I hope it can help you switch to the new system or become a contributor.

If you have questions I will happily try and answer them in the comments or via PMs. If you'd prefer some real-time help, there are some very fine on the #dreamwidth-dev IRC channel willing to provide it.

P.S. Secret message to people who are on Windows and would like to be baby devs but need some handholding to come out of lurking land: you're not alone and there's no shame in needing handholding. I did and still do all the time. Also programming isn't necessarily hard or complicated or scary. Sometimes it's just finding the correct file and changing one little line (and you'd know which one because you know how to read).

P.P.S. Super secret message to Fey and Fu: <33333333333333

Comments

[swaldman]

awesome! Thank you for doing this.

[ninetydegrees]

You're welcome! Thanks!

[batrachian]

This may well be what I need to get over the hump of 'working on that one bug that has been lurking for six months'.

Thanks. :D

[ninetydegrees]

That would be awesome!

You're welcome. Thank *you*.

[batrachian]

Hm. Looks like most of the stuff on that wikipage is things I have already done (the git stuff is new; still need to sort that out)

The problem is, as always, taking time to sit down and properly contemplate the code. So many other things to do (and I _do_ code-zen 40hr/wk at work, so doing what feels like more job at home has not been terribly enthralling)

[ninetydegrees]

Yeah you can directly to http://wiki.dwscoalition.org/wiki/index.php/Newbie_Guide_for_Windows_Users#Set_things_up if you already have installed all the software and only do the first two sections and the first part of the third section.

I see what you mean. I'm lucky my job has nothing to do with IT or programming and doesn't require me spending that much time at my workplace. I don't think it would be as much fun otherwise.

I don't know what you want to work on but little bugs you can fix in very little time or projects you can do in small stages might fit your schedule.

[aedifica]

Sometimes it's just finding the correct file and changing one little line (and you'd know which one because you know how to read).

This is way more true than I ever used to believe. I just did an access-locked post in my own journal about how I did that with some AppleScript today without having ever touched AppleScript before; would it be useful/inspiring if I crossposted that here, do you think? I mean, it's not really on topic for Dreamwidth development, it's Applescript and I did it for work, but it's an example of taking some existing code and making it do what I wanted without even knowing the language.

[denise]

I would consider that on topic! It shows how you learn to approach a problem in a strange codebase/strange language. :)

[aedifica]

OK! I'll rewrite it a bit and make it more *how* I did it (right now it's more "I did this, woo!"), and then post it over here sometime in the next few days.

[denise]

Awesome, yay, thank you! (I would really love for people to post things like "how I approach a problem" and "the kind of thought process I go through to fix a bug", that sort of thing, whether it's DW-specific or not.

[aedifica]

Done!

[ninetydegrees]

Glad to see you posted it!

And yeah, I have no formal training at all, have never studied any programming language except HTML once with a book and it's amazing what you can get if you just take the time to read the code. Plus Perl makes it easy.

[kimira]

Thanks. That was super simple/helpful/straightforward.

Hey, this is a random thing, but I can't remember how to change the dw username associated with my dreamhack, as listed here. How would I change that?

[denise]

Email or PM Sophie, or catch her on irc!

[ninetydegrees]

You're welcome. Thanks for the great feedback, kimira!

[ninetydegrees]

Oh wait, I think the answer to that because I did it once. I think it's on http://wiki.dwscoalition.org/wiki/index.php/Dreamhack...

Yep! Type edit-dreamhack-info in PuTTY.

[kimira]

Thanks, I had already PMed Sophie and was reminded of that. :) I had done it before but couldn't remember what to do or where it was.

[havocthecat]

I didn't know there was a guide for Windows users! Thank you! I may delurk more in the future.

[ninetydegrees]

*looks at your icon* *laughs*

Awesome! Yeah, the shiny isn't always for Mac and Linux users. We can have it too. ;)

[kimira]

I'm trying to work on this bug again (changing the customize journal options to use CSS styled layouts instead of tables), and am looking at NavStripChooser.pm atm. I was wondering which styles/settings needed to be in effect in order to have the "custom nav strip colors" option show. I went through all the journal base themes and selected them but none of them made the custom nav strip colors option show up. Are there currently any themes that use custom control strip colors?

(p.s. hmmm, just realized that option does show up for my other dw account, which is using a custom user style/theme. I guess I can try to play around with the html/css on that at least.)

eta again: never mind, I just made myself a custom layer matching the one I use on DW proper for which those options ~do~ show up, and now they show up on my dreamhack as well for that account.

[ninetydegrees]

Are there currently any themes that use custom control strip colors?

No because they're broken. Everybody does it via CSS instead. There's a bug about this somewhere... Hmm, well, no. I mention it in bug #3977 but there's no real bug about it.

[kimira]

Sorry for the delay, but follow-up question on this: I think I got the styling to look good with CSS except for that part (the controls for the custom control strip colors). Since they're not used anywhere anyway should I just upload what I have as a patch, and disregard that part?

[ninetydegrees]

I think you should, yeah. If it's an issue, the reviewer will mention it. It's easier and faster to get feedback that way.

[hypatia]

i should have some cycles soon to try this stuff out on win8, in case there are weirdnesses specific to the new OS.

[ninetydegrees]

I'm sorry, hypatia. I completely missed your comment. I'm not sure I'll upgrade to Win8 so it'd be awesome. Thank you.

[kimira]

Some more newbie questions/comments:

1) Denise just told me about the CLA and I hadn't heard of that and it's not mentioned anywhere on the newbie guide wiki page. Should that probably be mentioned in the steps there before the part where people are told how to submit their code?

2) Is there any way to view a feed of all new Bugzilla bugs as they are posted?

[ninetydegrees]

1) Good idea! I'll add it in.

2) AFAIK there's no feed in Zilla but some Saved Searches might help you -- such as all-unassigned and all-assigned-nopatch-- if you sort them by 'last changed' order
You can also create custom advanced searches. It isn't the same as feeds but it helps I believe.