Improve Beginner Onboarding with Structured Contribution Roadmap & Guides

[Harshitasingh-co]

Problem Statement

The website provides useful information about open source, but first-time users may still face challenges such as:
Not knowing the exact steps to make their first contribution
Confusion about the GitHub workflow (fork → branch → PR)
Difficulty understanding how to find and claim good first issues
Lack of a clear learning path from beginner to active contributor
Currently, the content is informative but not fully action-oriented, which may discourage beginners from taking their first step.

Proposed Solution

Introduce a Beginner Onboarding Section with the following components:

1. Step-by-Step First Contribution Guide
Include a clear workflow:
Find a beginner-friendly repository
Fork the repository
Clone locally
Create a new branch
Make changes
Commit and push
Create a Pull Request
Respond to review feedback

2. Git & GitHub Quick Command Cheat Sheet
Add commonly used commands with brief explanations:
git clone
git checkout -b branch-name
git add .
git commit
git push

3. “Good First Issue” Guide
Explain:
What the label means
How to search/filter for it
How to professionally comment to claim an issue

4. Beginner Learning Roadmap
Example structure:
Step 1: Learn Git basics
Step 2: Understand GitHub workflow
Step 3: Explore beginner-friendly projects
Step 4: Make first Pull Request
Step 5: Engage with the community

5. Navigation Improvement
Add:
Table of contents or sidebar
Section jump links
This will make long content easier to navigate.

Alternative Solutions

Add a short video tutorial instead of written guides
Link to external beginner resources instead of creating new content
Create a downloadable PDF guide
Add an interactive checklist instead of static instructions

Impact Level

High

Additional Context

Directly helps first-time contributors take action
Reduces beginner confusion and drop-off
Improves usability and learning experience
Aligns strongly with the project’s mission of guiding open source newcomers
Can increase user engagement and retention

[github-actions]

Thanks @Harshitasingh-co! 👋
Your issue is important — maintainers will take a look soon.

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🔹 Make sure you check #23 – Important Contributing Guidelines for OpenSource Compass
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