# Contributing to brennan.day

2026-03-03 | 755 words
ORIGINAL: https://brennan.day/contributing/

This is a personal blog and literary space, but I welcome thoughtful collaboration that aligns with my values. Here's how you can contribute.

## Ways to Contribute

### 💬 Community Engagement

The easiest and most valuable way to contribute:

• Leave thoughtful comments on posts that resonate with you
• Share responses on your own site with webmentions
• Join discussions on Mastodon or other platforms
• Sign the guestbook and introduce yourself

### ✍️ Guest Writing

I'm open to guest posts that align with this site's themes and voice.

Topics I'm interested in:

• Writing craft and creative practice
• Technology's impact on human experience (AI ethics, digital ownership, the Long Web)
• Literary analysis and book reviews
• Personal essays on growth, disability, and lived experience
• IndieWeb, POSSE, and community building
• Social justice, accessibility, and environmental sustainability
• Deep time, generational thinking, and legacy

What I'm looking for:

• Style: Personal, reflective, nuanced voice (not corporate or promotional)
• Length: 800-3,000 words typically
• Format: Markdown with proper front matter
• Approach: Curious rather than declarative, empathetic and inclusive

How to submit:

1. Email me at mail@brennanbrown.ca with:
   • Brief description of your idea
   • Writing sample or draft
   • Why you think it fits this space
2. Or create a merge request on GitLab with your post in src/posts/

### 🛠️ Technical Contributions

Bug fixes and improvements welcome:

• Accessibility improvements (ARIA labels, semantic HTML, alt text)
• Performance optimizations (image optimization, caching)
• IndieWeb feature enhancements (webmentions, WebSub, microformats)
• Feed improvements (RSS, JSON Feed, Atom)
• Grammar and typo corrections in existing posts
• Progressive enhancement features

Recent technical focus areas:

• Comment system integration and moderation
• WebSub hub notifications for real-time feed updates
• Pagefind search indexing
• Chart.js analytics visualization
• Image thumbnail generation with @11ty/eleventy-img
• Service worker for offline functionality
• Neocities deployment automation

How to contribute code:

1. Create an issue on GitLab describing the proposed change
2. Wait for discussion/feedback
3. Fork the repository and create a descriptive branch
4. Make your changes following our commit conventions
5. Test locally with npm run build
6. Submit a merge request with clear description

## Development Setup

# Clone and set up locally
git clone https://gitlab.com/brennankbrown/brennan.day.git
cd brennan.day
npm install
npm start

The site runs on port 8081 by default.

Available commands:

• npm start: Development server with incremental builds
• npm run build: Full production build with Pagefind search indexing
• npm run validate:feeds: Validate RSS and JSON feeds
• npm run init-comments: Initialize comment system

## Commit Conventions

This project uses conventional commits (570+ commits and counting!). All commit messages should follow this format:

<type>: <description>

[optional body]

Types:

• feat: - New features (e.g., new blog posts, pages, or functionality)
• fix: - Bug fixes, typo corrections, grammar improvements
• docs: - Documentation changes
• style: - Code formatting, CSS changes
• refactor: - Code restructuring without changing functionality
• perf: - Performance improvements
• test: - Adding or updating tests
• chore: - Maintenance tasks, dependency updates

Examples from recent history:

• feat: add IndieWeb projects showcase page with 14 themes and tools
• fix: correct grammar and improve clarity in work-in-progress essay
• feat: add WebSub support with multiple topic URLs and HTTP Link headers

## IndieWeb Principles

This site follows IndieWeb principles. Contributions should support:

• Own your data: Don't add external dependencies that compromise data ownership
• Real identity: Use proper attribution and authorship
• Interoperability: Support webmentions, microformats, and distributed conversations
• Accessibility: Ensure everyone can access and engage with content
• Progressive enhancement: Site works without JavaScript

## What I'm Less Likely to Accept

• Features that compromise site simplicity or performance
• Content that doesn't align with my values
• Corporate or promotional content
• Technical changes that break IndieWeb functionality
• External dependencies that compromise privacy or data ownership

## Reporting Issues

Found something broken?

• Create an issue on GitLab
• Provide clear details about what's not working
• Include browser/device information if relevant

## License & Attribution

• Content: CC BY-SA 4.0 (share and adapt with attribution)
• Code: AGPL-3.0
• Guest posts: You retain copyright, grant license to publish here
• Always provide proper attribution for sources and inspirations

## Getting in Touch

• Email: mail@brennanbrown.ca
• Mastodon: @brennan@social.lol
• GitLab: gitlab.com/brennankbrown/brennan.day
• Webmentions: Send from your own site

Thank you for your interest in contributing! This site is built on the principles of community, openness, and thoughtful engagement. Whether you're fixing a typo, writing a guest post, or just leaving a meaningful comment, your contribution matters.