Getting Started Guide (Overview)

Intro

Here is an example of a local chapter using Indivisible Template (IT): IndivisibleColusa.com

Here is what the admin for that site said about IT,

Thank you, thank you, thank you! Our new website is a fantastic tool for keeping our members informed of events and actions, and for attracting new people to our chapter. Thanks to the Indivisible Template, it only took me a few hours to get it up and running.

• Jen Roberts, Indivisible Colusa

What is the template?

Indivisible Template helps small Indivisible Guide chapters be more effective in their civic action and attract more members. It does so by giving local chapters a well designed and easy to use website with good defaults. In practice it is a better, faster, and more approachable alternative to Facebook Groups or generic blogs that many IG chapters use today.

Or, in other words, Indivisible Template is an open source website creation tool aimed specifically at Indivisible Guide (IG) chapters.

The template includes:

1. A design (theme)
2. A series of templates (default pages and page structures)
3. IG-specific features (representatives, call scripts)

IT is built on top of GitHub Pages (host) and uses Jekyll (templating) and Siteleaf (CMS).

What are the goals for the “Basic Template”?

1. Make a website-creation tool that is better, faster, and easier than any alternative for non-technical chapters
2. Focus on serving small chapters and their needs
3. Increase the impact chapters using IT are having on their local representative
4. Help IG chapters increase their membership with smart design

What are things that IT should not do?

• Try to replicate all the features of wordpress
• Customizable themes

How the project is organized

The IT lives on GitHub here: https://github.com/IndivisibleTemplate/BasicTemplate

There are known issues here: https://github.com/IndivisibleTemplate/BasicTemplate/issues

The public setup guide is here: http://indivisibletemplate.com/documentation/

How can I contribute?

Important IT follows the same code of conduct as Jekyll. Please read before you start contributing: https://github.com/jekyll/jekyll/blob/master/CONDUCT.markdown

Here are some ways that you can contribute:

• Tackle open issues on GitHub
• Post bug reports
• Develop and write up a feature idea to pitch for inclusion in IT
• Improve the documentation
• Copy edit
• Promote the IT

What is the preferred development process?

1. Assign yourself an issue (either an existing issue or a new issue you want to work on) in the GitHub repo. If someone else is working on it that’s fine, but maybe give them a heads up and collaborate on it if possible. This allows us to divide and conquer.
2. Fork the BasicTemplate’s Master branch and work in your new branch
3. Issue a pull request back to the BasicTemplate Master after testing your new branch
4. Important Have at least one other person review your pull request before merging it into Master

Future / ideas

IT is open source. Your contributions will make it much more successful, and ultimately that means helping many small chapters have a bigger positive impact on the country.

A few big features I’d like to tackle:

• Checkboxes that persist on the site for action items so users can go through the action items and check them off
• Text notifications (or guide to setting up IFTTT for end-users)
• Auto-updating branches
• HTTPS
• More social media sharing
• Integration with Amplify app (if there is a group ID present in the settings, display a link to download the app with instructions on how to use it)
• “Advanced template” to power new SF website
• ?