GitHub

GitHub is being used more frequently by the W3C to facilitate collaboration and track changes and contributions more efficiently and effectively. The learning curve for this tool can be a bit steep, so we have decided to use this space to document how to use this tool from the perspective of the HTML Accessibility Task Force which will be expected to use GitHub to submit tests for extension specifications.

Creating HTML5 Tests

The following instructions are currently theoretical. I have not tested them out yet but will remove this statement once they have been verified. They are currently written specifically for the Image Description Extension since that is the first spec we are writing tests for. It will be updated to include examples for future work when such time arises. -Mark Sadecki

Forking the repository

To begin testing, you need to fork the repository for HTML5 tests: Web Platform Tests. This creates a copy of the W3C's web-platform-tests repository in your GitHub account.

1. Fork the Web Platform Tests repository to your github account by pressing the Fork button in the upper left corner of the project Image:The fork button is actually linked text of the word 'fork' styled to look like a button
2. In your terminal, run $ git clone https://github.com/your-git-username/web-platform-tests.git This essentially downloads your fork from GitHub to your computer with all the necessary git files.
3. Create a remote (alias) of the original W3C repository (in your terminal)
   1. $ cd web-platform-tests
   2. $ git remote add upstream https://github.com/w3c/web-platform-tests.git Assigns the original W3C repository to a remote repository called "upstream". This makes is easy to pull in changes that are made "upstream"
   3. $ git fetch upstream Pulls in changes not present in your local repository, without modifying your files
4. Create a branch for your changes, $ git checkout -b submission/your-name; make sure you are in the project folder when you run this

Creating a branch makes it easier for the maintainer of the original repository to isolate your contributions so they can be verified before being merged back into the original repository.

Creating your test files

Please refer to Creating HTML5 Tests for more documentation on creating your test and reference files.

There should be a directory in the root of web-platform-tests called ext-html-longdesc. This is where tests for the Image Description Extension will be saved. Since longdesc is an attribute of the img element, all tests should be saved in the semantics/embedded-content-0/the-img-element/ directory.

NOTE: if you don't find an ext-html-longdesc directory in the root of your branch, then our original pull request has not yet been processed. You should create the following directory in the root of your branch: ext-html-longdesc/semantics/embedded-content-0/the-img-element/ to save your tests in.

Pushing your test files to your repo

1. Push your new test files to your repository $ git push origin master Pushes commits to your remote repository stored on GitHub;

Issuing a pull request

Once you are ready to request that your files be pulled back into the original W3C repository:

1. On your github account page, change to your branch submission/your-name" Image: a modal dropdown that lists all of the available branches
2. Then click the Pull Request button Image: The pull request button is actually linked text of the word Pull Request
3. Fill out a title and description for your pull request and send.

Please make your pull requests either to master or to a feature branch (but not to CR).