The Secret How To Get More Free Modules (and themes)
Date: Friday, June 24 2005 @ 12:17:09 PDT
Topic: Open Source
Do you have a favorite module that you can't live without? For example, do you
like any MetOpen module like: MetOpen Home Page, MetTestimonials, MetRecommend,
MetMaps, Met Future Articles or MetAuthors modules? The Nuke League or
nukecards plugins? I'll tell you a secret on how you can get more even more for
free from MetOpen and most other module developers:
It's simple really: Volunteer to help! (and I don’t just mean
programmers.). Here's some ways you can volunteer:
Graphic design- we may need a graphic related to MetOpen.com or one of our other sites and we aren't graphic designers. If you create our needed graphic, that will free up our time to work on a module you may like.
Write Do***entation- Our scripts aren't that complicated but still needs
a little bit of text to accompany it. Volunteer to write it and we can keep on programming. The better the do***entation the less support requests we'll have-
so we'll be able to code more.
Beta Testing- If you are a power user and know your way around problems volunteer to beta test. Be clear in your feedback what's the problem- not just
"it doesn't work". Be specific. What steps did you take to get this problem?
Do you have a workaround? Are the instructions clear? How would you fix it?
Click on Ads Many developer sites have ads on their site. If you are interested in one, click on it. This helps support the developer no matter how
small.
Moderate the forums Share your knowledge- help the newbies. Any
questions you can answer will enhance the community and free the developer’s
time.
Tell them that you appreciate them
All of us have egos (some are just bigger than others) and we like to hear
compliments. Don’t just complain when there is a bug- offer praise when you
like something. At MetOpen we use our MetTestimonials module (you can download it at MetOpen ) to collect positive feedback. It can be used to show future clients that we do good work. So if you like us, please write a
testimonial.
How to get what you want
If there is a specific feature you want offer to barter with the developer-
"I'll write the manual if you can include the feature I want." Many
would love to continue coding and make their module better while you handle other tasks for them. Be courteous though- developers are doing their work for free so they have no obligation to you.
At MetOpen, we have many more ideas coming up and with some volunteers we can
get them to them quicker.
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