Moving some material around to make contribution easier

CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -5,7 +5,10 @@ and we welcome contributions of all kinds:
 new lessons,
 fixes to existing material,
 bug reports,
-and reviews of proposed changes are all equally welcome.
+and reviews of proposed changes are all welcome.
+
+## Contributor Agreement
+
 By contributing,
 you agree that we may redistribute your work under [our license](LICENSE.md).
 In exchange,
@@ -15,6 +18,32 @@ and help you become a member of our community.
 Everyone involved in [Software Carpentry][swc-site] and [Data Carpentry][dc-site]
 agrees to abide by our [code of conduct](CONDUCT.md).
 
+## How to Contribute
+
+The easiest way to get started is to file an issue
+to tell us about a spelling mistake,
+some awkward wording,
+or a factual error.
+This is a good way to introduce yourself
+and to meet some of our community members.
+
+1.  If you do not have a [GitHub][github] account,
+    you can [send us comments by email](mailto:{{ site.email }}).
+    However,
+    we will be able to respond more quickly if you use one of the other methods described below.
+
+2.  If you have a [GitHub][github] account,
+    or are willing to [create one][github-join],
+    but do not know how to use Git,
+    you can report problems or suggest improvements by [creating an issue][issues].
+    This allows us to assign the item to someone
+    and to respond to it in a threaded discussion.
+
+3.  If you are comfortable with Git,
+    and would like to add or change material,
+    you can submit a pull request (PR).
+    Instructions for doing this are [included below](#using-github).
+
 ## What We're Looking For
 
 There are many ways to contribute,
@@ -40,8 +69,8 @@ Our lessons already contain more material than we can cover in a typical worksho
 so we are usually *not* looking for more concepts or tools to add to them.
 As a rule,
 if you want to introduce a new idea,
-you must (a) estimate how long it will take to teach
-and (b) explain what you would take out to make room for it.
+you must estimate how long it will take to teach
+and explain what you would take out to make room for it.
 The first encourages contributors to be honest about requirements;
 the second, to think hard about priorities.
 
@@ -50,14 +79,7 @@ Our workshops typically contain a mixture of Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux users;
 in order to be usable,
 our lessons must run equally well on all three.
 
-## Getting Started
-
-The easiest way to get started is to file an issue
-to tell us about a spelling mistake,
-some awkward wording,
-or a factual error.
-This is a good way to introduce yourself
-and to meet some of our community members.
+## Using GitHub
 
 If you want to start adding or fixing material yourself,
 you may want to look at
@@ -96,15 +118,16 @@ and have final say over what gets merged into the lesson.
 General discussion of [Software Carpentry][swc-site] and [Data Carpentry][dc-site]
 happens on the [discussion mailing list][discuss-list],
 which everyone is welcome to join.
-You can also [reach us by email][contact].
+You can also [reach us by email][mailto:{{ site.email }}].
 
-[contact]: admin@software-carpentry.org
 [dc-issues]: https://github.com/issues?q=user%3Adatacarpentry
 [dc-lessons]: http://datacarpentry.org/lessons/
 [dc-site]: http://datacarpentry.org/
 [discuss-list]: http://lists.software-carpentry.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_lists.software-carpentry.org
 [example-site]: https://gvwilson.github.io/new-lesson-example/
+[github]: http://github.com
 [github-flow]: https://guides.github.com/introduction/flow/
+[github-join]: https://github.com/join
 [how-contribute]: https://egghead.io/series/how-to-contribute-to-an-open-source-project-on-github
 [issues]: https://github.com/gvwilson/new-lesson-example/issues/
 [repo]: https://github.com/gvwilson/new-lesson-example/

_episodes/03-organization.md

@@ -13,6 +13,20 @@ keypoints:
 - "The home page, reference guide, setup instructions, discussion page, and instructors' guide must be updated for each lesson."
 - "The Makefile stores commonly-used commands."
 ---
+Each lesson is made up of *episodes* that are 10-30 minutes long
+(including time for both teaching and exercises).
+The episodes of this lesson explain the tools we use to create lessons
+and the formatting rules those lessons must follow.
+
+> ## Why "Episodes"?
+>
+> We call the parts of lessons "episodes" because
+> every other term (like "topic") already has multiple meanings,
+> and because it encourages us to think of breaking up our lessons
+> into chunks that are about as long as a typical movie scene,
+> which is better for learning than long blocks without interruption.
+{: .callout}
+
 Our lessons need artwork,
 CSS style files,
 and a few bits of Javascript.
@@ -48,7 +62,7 @@ The `assets` directory contains the CSS, Javascript, fonts, and image files
 used in the generated website.
 Authors should not modify these.
 
-## Standard Files
+# Standard Files
 
 When the lesson repository is first created,
 the initial author should create a `README.md` file containing

_includes/navbar.html

@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@
             {% endfor %}
           </ul>
         </li>
-        <li><a href="{{ site.root }}/reference/">Reference</a></li>
         <li class="dropdown">
           <a href="{{ site.root }}/" class="dropdown-toggle" data-toggle="dropdown" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" aria-expanded="false">Extras <span class="caret"></span></a>
           <ul class="dropdown-menu">
@@ -32,6 +31,7 @@
           </ul>
         </li>
         {% endif %}
+        <li><a href="{{ site.root }}/reference/">Reference</a></li>
         <li><a href="{{ site.root }}/license/">License</a></li>
       </ul>
       <form class="navbar-form navbar-right" role="search" id="search" onsubmit="google_search(); return false;">

index.md

@@ -4,28 +4,12 @@ layout: lesson_homepage
 This lesson shows how to use the
 [Software Carpentry]({{ site.swc_site }}) and
 [Data Carpentry]({{ site.dc_site }}) lesson template.
-Each lesson is made up of *episodes* that are 10-30 minutes long
-(including time for both teaching and exercises).
-The episodes of this lesson explain the tools we use to create lessons
-and the formatting rules those lessons must follow.
-
-> ## Why "Episodes"?
->
-> We call the parts of lessons "episodes" because
-> every other term (like "topic") already has multiple meanings,
-> and because it encourages us to think of breaking up our lessons
-> into chunks that are about as long as a typical movie scene,
-> which is better for learning than long blocks without interruption.
-{: .callout}
-
-Every lesson's home page is contained in `index.md`,
-and opens with a few pages.
-After that come
-a block stating prerequisites
-and a line including `syllabus.html`
-(which generates a summary of the lesson's episodes).
+For guidelines on how to help improve our lessons and this template,
+please see [the contribution guidelines][contributing].
 
 > ## Prerequisites
 >
 > Use the `.prereq` style to specify prerequisites.
 {: .prereq}
+
+[contributing]: {{ site.repo }}/blob/gh-pages/CONTRIBUTING.md