You can write Symbol docs too!

Did you know the [Symbol documentation](https://docs.symbolplatform.com) is **Open Source**, just like the project's source code?

That's right, Symbol community members can help each other by [writing articles](#writing-new-articles) but also [providing translations](#translating-content), [reviewing](#reviewing-and-proofreading) or even just [making suggestions](#making-suggestions)!

It's **open to everybody**, including you! Do you want your work to be shown in the Symbol Documentation web page, [for the whole world to see](https://docs.symbolplatform.com/contribute/authors.html)?
![Authors](https://qiita-image-store.s3.ap-northeast-1.amazonaws.com/0/2240308/ffd3eb99-9d19-6029-7ea4-cbfc4243a593.png)
Let me tell you how.

## Do I know you?

First off, let me introduce myself. I am **Xavi** ([@sigsegvx](https://twitter.com/sigsegvx) on Twitter), the current maintainer of the Symbol docs. My name might sound strange to you, but you probably know [Professor X](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professor_X) from the **X-Men** who is named just like me (∩ω∩)

![Professor X](https://qiita-image-store.s3.ap-northeast-1.amazonaws.com/0/2240308/19a7b427-11e8-d568-5823-00a67ddc5775.png)

**But the Symbol docs are not mine**. The current pages were for the most part created by [David Garcia](https://davidgarcia.dev/), and he used material from the previous NEM documentation, which was mostly written by the NEM community.

So, as you can see, this documentation has always been **by the community**, **for the community**! My role is to use my experience as a developer, writer and teacher to make sure each tutorial is in **the best possible shape**, but these pages were here before I arrived and will remain here long after I'm gone.

**Do you want to help?** There are several ways, actually, depending on how much involvement you want to have!

## Making suggestions

You don't have to write anything if you don't want to. Simply **reporting mistakes or inaccurate information** is also valuable!

You found a typo? **Report it!** Something is not clear? **Report it!** You just read a page and it does not make any sense to you? **Report it!**

At the bottom of every page there is a link to submit your feedback:

![Give us your feedback](https://qiita-image-store.s3.ap-northeast-1.amazonaws.com/0/2240308/6f1f3552-8507-1498-464b-fb20e93adb5c.png)

This link will take you to **GitHub**, the repository where all our docs are stored. You need to have a **GitHub account**, but creating one is easy and free.

**Your help is greatly appreciated!**

[🡆 Continue here for more information](https://docs.symbolplatform.com/contribute/contributing-docs.html#making-suggestions).

## Reviewing and Proofreading

There is also a mechanism in place in case you want to **edit a page directly** and **suggest your own text**, be it a sentence, a paragraph or a whole section.

At the top of the right column of every article (only visible on horizontal screens) there is a link to [Improve this page](https://github.com/symbol/symbol-docs/edit/main/source/contribute/contributing-docs.rst):

![Improve this page](https://qiita-image-store.s3.ap-northeast-1.amazonaws.com/0/2240308/4c10357c-a490-9d44-bf9f-610e690859ea.png)

This link will open the article directly **in the GitHub editor**, where you can change any text you want!

Afterwards, it will be reviewed by the repository maintainers to make sure everything is correct.

[🡆 Read all the details here](https://docs.symbolplatform.com/contribute/contributing-docs.html#reviewing-and-proofreading).

## Translating content

Would you like to see a page in **your language**? You can write it!

Translation to languages other than English is entirely provided by **Symbol's awesome community** and you can be a part of it.

We use a service called [Transifex](https://www.transifex.com/nemtech/symboldocs) which keeps track of all sentences used in the documentation, and all the languages they have been translated into.

If you join the [symbol-docs project](https://www.transifex.com/signup/?join_project=symboldocs) on Transifex you can see all the pending work and **start contributing one sentence at a time**.

![Transifex languages](https://qiita-image-store.s3.ap-northeast-1.amazonaws.com/0/2240308/a3a6d512-4aef-df49-47bc-363bf83652e9.png)

Japanese translation is the most advanced so it is currently the only alternative to English, but it is still not finished. **It is waiting for you!**

[🡆 Learn how to do it here](https://docs.symbolplatform.com/guidelines/translating-the-documentation.html).

## Writing new articles

Finally, if you know enough about Symbol, why don't you **write your own guide** to help other Symbol users?

This month there have been a number of **excellent community articles** about Symbol here, and there are surely more to come! Some of them maybe could be in the official documentation, don't you think?

If you know how to develop using Symbol you probably already know how to submit new pages to the documentation GitHub repository. It's the standard procedure: git clone, install tools, edit files, and submit a pull request.

Don't worry about style or formatting, we will take care of that during the review process.

[🡆 Find all the details here](https://docs.symbolplatform.com/guidelines/writing-a-guide.html).

## Farewell

I hope I have motivated you to **contribute to the Symbol Documentation**.

Next time you spot a typo or an incorrect bit of code, **you have no excuse**! Now you know how easy it is to fix it.

**Thank you very much** for reading me, and thanks **Qiita** for motivating me to write this article（⌒▽⌒ゞ

Make sure you come to [Symbol's Discord server](https://discord.com/invite/xymcity) and hang out in the `#docs-general` channel!

Bye!