Welcome to the MakerSkillTree Wiki!

This wiki is a guide on how to contribute to the project through bug requests, new skill trees, peer reviews and translations. I'm grateful you're interested in contributing to this project and helping it grow into something great. To avoid repetition of work, please follow the below workflow guide when submitting.

First, a draft skill tree is submitted using the Skill Tree Generator and submitted as an .svg file as an issue or a pull request. The template is polished by an admin with icons added and added as a downloadable, printable PDF file.
Second, two experts submit separate peer reviews on the skill tree, suggesting improvements or confirming it looks good. Small bug fixes can also be submitted. These can be submitted via issues or pull requests with an .svg file using the Skill Tree Generator.
Third, the template is polished by an admin with icons added and added as a final, downloadable, printable PDF file.
Fourth, translations can be created by uploading the original .svg file to the Skill Tree Generator and submitting translations as an .svg file as an issue or pull request.

Using this workflow it avoids re-translating skill trees that are not polished or reviewed by other experts. This system was not implemented from the start and you may find translated works that are not up to date with the final file in the repository that need re-translation. You might also find some skill areas that do not yet have an SVG file compatible with the Skill Tree Generator and I am working on adding these, and they can also be submitted. Bug fixes are accepted at any stage in the process. You can check the progress of each tree in the table in the Readme on the front page.

Skill Tree Contributor Rewards

If you contribute a bug fix, you can receive a holographic contributor sticker in the mail as a thanks for your help.

If you contribute a peer review or a complete skill tree, you can receive a gold and white exclusive contributor pin in the mail.

How to Create a New Skill Tree

If you've got a skill area you're an expert in that's not covered by the repository, feel free to submit a new skill tree. Use the Skill Tree Generator to brainstorm your skill tiles. To use the Skill Tree Generator,

Edit the Heading text with a title
Click and drag to move the tiles
Right click a tile to edit the text
Save will download an SVG of the skill tree
Left click to edit credit at the base to add your own name, or remove my name if you're just using for personal use (or don't want me to proof read/edit it).

What tiles should I include?

When creating a new skill tree, keep the following guidelines in mind:

Skill trees should be modern, relevant and ordered correctly from basics at the base to advanced at the top
Flexible with goals rather than too specific, everyone's journey is different (e.g., Instead of 'Make a clock' it could be 'Add electronics to a project'.)
Include options for tools that aren't cost or availability restrictive to the average hobbyist
Ideally, globally applicable

The aim of the skill tree sheets is to recognise achievement and act as a goal setting aid. Not every tile needs to be completed, and I encourage users to swap tiles from the base tree to their own personal goals to tailor the sheet to their journey. Tiles do not need to be completed in order, and tiles are not 'connected' to others but can be organised in columns if desired. Skill tree users are responsible for doing their own research and pairing their progression with appropriate learning materials or opportunities.

With a total of 68 skill tiles, there's a lot of boxes to fill in! To help prompt ideas, I usually include the following:

What's the first few things you do in this skill? What would you start a beginner with?
What safety considerations do new users need to learn about?
What materials might you use at a basic / intermediate / advanced level?
What tools might you use at a basic / intermediate / advanced level?
What techniques might you use at a basic / intermediate / advanced level?
What kinds of projects could you make at a basic / intermediate / advanced level? e.g., Make something for the home, make something artistic, make a piece of furniture, make something practical, make something that solves a problem, etc.
What might go wrong and how would you fix it?
Where might you visit to learn more / get involved in a community?
What interskill / interdisciplinary techniques could you try? Eg. Electronics + Textiles = Wearable Tech
Gifting a friend something made from this skill
Teaching a class or friend on this skill
Releasing an online tutorial on this skill
If a skill tree is broad in topic, it is fine for it to have tiles that are in duplicate to subdisciplines in that topic. For example, if both the Sports & Fitness and Running Skill trees have a 'Run 2kms' tile, this is fine.

Template Resources

Header font: Hansief
Text font: Uniform Condensed Regular
Alternative text font: Open Sans
Icons from Icons8, and some self-made

How to Submit a Bug Fix

Bug fixers may contribute this feedback as an issue or pull request in Github with 'Bug Fix' in the title, and could include wording changes, spelling errors (Americanised spelling), icon change suggestions or anything else that should be fixed. Bug fixers can receive a contributor sticker in the mail if they wish.

How to Peer Review a Skill Tree

Peer reviewers must be an expert in the skill area and contribute detailed feedback, including making sure that:

The trees are modern, relevant and technically correct
Tiles are not too specific and include more broad options for flexible interpretation (for example, rather than 'teach your son this skill' it could be 'teach a friend this skill'.)
Ordered correctly from basics at the base to advanced at the top
Weaker tiles that could be swapped for stronger tiles
If a skill tree is broad in topic, it is fine for it to have tiles that are in duplicate to subdisciplines in that topic. For example, if both the Sports & Fitness and Running Skill trees have a 'Run 2kms' tile, this is fine.
Submit your peer review with a changelog, which can be automatically generated using the past and present SVG files from the Skill Tree Generator with the Skill Tree Tool. Huge thankyou to @josephlewis42 for developing this tool, it's a huge time saver!
Peer reviewers can submit 'Zero fixes' reviews, where if they've looked over the content and found no improvements to make, they can still submit a peer review to confirm that it's been checked over. This helps a lot in progressing the stages to finalizing a skill tree.

Peer reviewers may contribute this feedback as an issue or pull request with a fixed .svg in Github with 'Peer Review' in the title. Peer reviewers can receive a contributor sticker in the mail if they wish. If a skill tree has been peer reviewed twice, it is now ready for translation and indicates a high level of confidence in the content.

How to Translate a Skill Tree

Translators may contribute translations by uploading the .svg file to the Skill Tree Generator. , translating the tiles, downloading the .svg file and submitting as an issue or pull request in Github with 'Translation to [Insert Language]' in the title. Translators can receive a contributor sticker in the mail if they wish.

Referring to specific tiles

If you're submitting edits to a tree, you may wish to refer to the column a tile is in to make it easier to spot, or to be even more accurate, the row and the column. Here's a color-coded guide for rows and columns:

Sponsorship Benefits

By sponsoring this project, you can unlock high quality resources such as poster and sticker designs, and get the commercial licence for developing skill tracking software. I'm grateful for any sponsorship to support the project and allow me to give more time to building better resources.

If you've ever dreamed about tracking your skills digitally, building portfolios and levelling yourself up this commercial licence unlocks your ability to build apps like these. Users could find resources to help them learn, local opportunities to go to workshops, and find friends in their local area who might want to do a skill swap or work on a project together. There's potential for affiliate marketing, advertising and paid subscription revenue.

Supporting this project unlocks commercial software usage of the Skill Trees project by sponsoring at your business tier level, plus a range of high quality resources in a exclusive repository. Users who wish to unlock software privileges for the skill trees project must purchase a subscription tier based on their business type and size and agree to be bound by the Licence Agreement.

Skill Trees Exclusive Repository

This sponsor-only repository has a huge range of great resources, including:

12+ high quality poster downloads

Printable and Digital Achievement Badges

Print these out to use as physical stickers, or use as digital achievement badges in software.

Visit the sponsorship page to get started. More goodies yet to be added, and happy to work with you on requests!