Thread by @imakefoss

Writing some code and open source it is usually the easy part of FOSS; making that code clear, accessible, organized, structured... adds a level of complexity; sharing and presenting that code to the world in a proper way suppose an humongous effort. Some details to consider: 1/n

Code tips: KEEP IT SIMPLE. Try to avoid complex code and advance language features, code should be understandable by itself with the minimum comments, keep it organized with clear file naming, add extensive descriptions with details at beginning of code files for reference... 2/n

Some languages allow easier code than others, i.e. I found C lang can be quite easy (and enjoyable) to follow but C++ can be quite complex (specially when using advance language features), making it very difficult for potential contributors to jump into the project code... 3/n

GitHub tips: Always place a *detailed* README and LICENSE in the repo, CHANGELOG, CONTRIBUTING and ROADMAP are also recommended. Select carefully a project description sentence and try to add some distinctive logo/image to identify the project... It worked good for #raylib. 4/n

README tips: Start with a clear project description and aim of the project, project features, usage details, project building and installation, documentation references, contact information and social networks, license reference. Some info could be moved to other files... 5/n

CONTRIBUTING tips: A file with some contribution guidelines is very useful! You can list project naming conventions (dir/files/code) as well as project phylosophy and aims. Also, provide issues/PR/examples/demos templates for contributors to make it easier to start. 6/n

Building a community around your FOSS project is key to find contributors and make the project grow, also, it's a great motivator to keep working on the project. With #raylib I tried several options: forum, reddit, gitter, irc... best one? Discord: discord.gg/VkzNHUE 7/n

Managing a FOSS community requires an extra level of commitment and dedication to answer user questions, provide some support ir just talk about the project... in the last year #raylib Discord has taken a great amount of my time but library popularity has grown exponentially! 8/n

Summarizing, keeping a FOSS project alive and growing requires lot of work and time, not only writing code or solving bugs but also managing other aspects as project sharing and presentation. Now the question: is it sustainable? for how long? Wait for my next thread! 9/9 @raysan5