# Improving contributor guide discoverability (was: Consolidating the 71 GitHub repositories to simplify maintenance and contribution)

**URL:** <https://swi-prolog.discourse.group/t/improving-contributor-guide-discoverability-was-consolidating-the-71-github-repositories-to-simplify-maintenance-and-contribution/492>\
**Category:** General\
**Created:** [April 5, 2019, 2:54pm UTC](https://swi-prolog.discourse.group/t/improving-contributor-guide-discoverability-was-consolidating-the-71-github-repositories-to-simplify-maintenance-and-contribution/492 "2019-04-05T14:54:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 16

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**Author:** ![edom](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/swi-prolog.discourse.group/edom/32/522_2.png) [@edom](https://swi-prolog.discourse.group/u/edom)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2019, 9:40pm UTC](https://swi-prolog.discourse.group/t/improving-contributor-guide-discoverability-was-consolidating-the-71-github-repositories-to-simplify-maintenance-and-contribution/492/16 "2019-04-06T21:40:32Z")

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> […] people tend not to read these things […]
> 
> So, I guess the question becomes _"what is a good place for people to find this info_ "?

That question is insightful.

People tend not to read these things because they are not cloning when they are at that page. The information should be at where they are when they are cloning: the swipl-devel GitHub repository. The information, the person, and the task must be _near to each other in space and time_. Ideally, the information is presented right where people need it when they need it.

The question becomes “_Where are they when they need that information?_”

The answer: They probably are at [swipl-devel](https://github.com/SWI-Prolog/swipl-devel) at GitHub, after searching for “swi prolog source code” in Google. (I may be wrong. You may have a more accurate answer from the website statistics.)

Thus, I think _the best place for that information is the README.md file in swipl-devel_, because people will be looking at that when they are cloning. The readme is as close as possible to the “Fork” and “Clone” button as GitHub allows. The readme is the only place that is _zero_ clicks away from where people are when they are cloning.

Also, we can assume that people want to build the source _right after_ they clone it, so the information about building should be placed _right after_ the information about cloning. Then, they will want to install it, run it, learn about it, play with it, write big programs in it, contribute to it, and so on. Thus the _sequence of information_ in README.md should _follow_ that most likely _sequence of tasks_ done by a new contributor.

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_[View the full topic](https://swi-prolog.discourse.group/t/improving-contributor-guide-discoverability-was-consolidating-the-71-github-repositories-to-simplify-maintenance-and-contribution/492)._