Breaking instructions into pieces and explaining labels

Author: gvwilson

DESIGN.md

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+## Background and Design
+
+There are a few things you need to know in order to understand why
+this template is organized the way it is:
+
+1.  Git uses the term *clone* to mean "a copy of a repository".
+    GitHub uses the term *fork* to mean, "a copy of a GitHub-hosted
+    repo that is also hosted on GitHub", and the term *clone* to mean
+    "a copy of a GitHub-hosted repo that's located on someone else's
+    machine".  In both cases, the duplicate has a remote called
+    `origin` that points to the original repo; other remotes can be
+    added manually.
+
+2.  A user on GitHub can only have one fork of a particular repo.
+    This is a problem for us because an author may be involved in
+    writing several lessons, each of which has its own website repo.
+    Those website repositories ought to be forks of this one, but
+    since GitHub doesn't allow that, we've had to find a workaround.
+
+3.  If a repository has a branch called `gh-pages` (which stands for
+    "GitHub pages"), then GitHub uses the HTML and Markdown files in
+    that branch to create a website for the repository.  If the
+    repository's URL is `http://github.com/darwin/finches`, the URL
+    for the website is `http://darwin.github.io/finches`.
+
+4.  We use Markdown for writing pages because it's simple to learn,
+    and isn't tied to any specific language (the ReStructured Text
+    format popular in the Python world, for example, is a complete
+    unknown to R programmers).  If authors want to use something else
+    to author their lessons (e.g., IPython Notebooks), it's up to them
+    to generate and commit Markdown formatted according to the rules
+    below.
+
+    **Note:** we do *not* prescribe what tools instructors should use
+    when actually teaching.  The IPython Notebook, Python IDEs like
+    Spyder, and the GOCLI (Good Ol' Command Line Interpreter) are all
+    equally welcome up on stage --- all we specify is the format of
+    the lesson notes.
+
+5.  We use Pandoc to process pages instead of Jekyll (GitHub's default
+    conversion tool) because Pandoc supports a much richer dialect of
+    Markdown than Jekyll.  Like Jekyll, Pandoc looks for a header at
+    the top of each page formatted like this:
+
+    ~~~
+    ---
+    variable: value
+    other_variable: other_value
+    ---
+    ...stuff in the page...
+    ~~~
+
+    and inserts the values of those variables into the page when
+    formatting this.  Lesson authors will usually not have to worry
+    about this.
+
+6.  Using Pandoc instead of Jekyll means that we have to compile our
+    Markdown into HTML on our own machines and commit it to the
+    `gh-pages` branch of the lesson's GitHub repository.  In order to
+    keep our source files and generated files separate, we put our
+    source files in a sub-directory called `pages`, and compile them
+    "upward" into the root directory of the lesson's repository.
+
+    **Note:** while it's usually considered bad practice to put
+    computer-generated files under version control, the HTML pages put
+    into the lesson's root directory by Pandoc *must* be committed to
+    version control in order for the lesson to be displayed properly
+    on GitHub.
+
+7.  In order to display properly, our generated HTML pages need
+    artwork, CSS style files, and a few bits of Javascript.  We could
+    load these from the web, but that would make offline authoring
+    difficult.  Instead, each lesson's repository has a copy of these
+    files, and a way of updating them (and only them) on demand.
+
+One final note: we try not to put HTML inside Markdown because it's
+ugly to read and write, and error-prone to process. Instead, we put
+things that ought to be in `<div>` blocks, like the learning
+objectives and challenge exercises, in blocks indented with `>`, and
+do a bit of post-processing to attach the right CSS classes to these
+blocks.

FAQ.md

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+## FAQ
+
+*   *Where can I get help?*
+
+    Mail us at [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]),
+    or join our [discussion list](http://lists.software-carpentry.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_lists.software-carpentry.org)
+    and ask for help there.
+
+*   *Where can I report problems or suggest improvements?*
+
+    Please
+    [file an issue](https://github.com/swcarpentry/lesson-template/issues?q=is%3Aopen+is%3Aissue)
+    or [mail us](mailto:[email protected]).
+
+*   *Why does the lesson repository have to be created from scratch? Why not fork `lesson-template` on GitHub?*
+
+    Because any particular user can only have one fork of a repository,
+    but instructors frequently need to work on several workshops at once.
+
+*   *Why use Pandoc?  Why not some other markup language and some other converter?*
+
+    Because it supports a richer dialect of Markdown than Jekyll
+    (the converter that GitHub uses by default).
+
+*   *What do the [labels](https://github.com/swcarpentry/lesson-template/issues?q=is%3Aopen+is%3Aissue) mean?*
+
+    *   `bug`: something is wrong in our tools or documentation
+    *   `discussion`: marks issues used for conversations about specific problems and questions
+    *   `duplicate`: marks an issue that was closed as redundant (include the number of the original issue in the closing comment)
+    *   `enhancement`: asks for, or adds, a new feature or new information
+    *   `filed-by-newcomer`: issue or pull request was filed by someone new to GitHub and/or this project
+    *   `getting-started`: issue or pull request is suitable for someone new to GitHub and/or this project
+    *   `help-wanted`: a question or request for assistance
+    *   `wont-fix`: marks an issue that isn't going to be addressed
+    *   `work-in-progress`: a pull request that is not yet ready for review
+
+## Debugging
+
+Please add notes about problems and solutions below.