How I Started an Open Source Contribution to Firefox-Voice Repository

At first I was a little overwhelmed when I approached the Firefox-voice repository because I had very little experience working with such a large codebase, the code base with a lot of people making contributions. I had to spend a lot of time to setting up communication, running the project locally (with the help of project Readme). I had to spend a very good amount of time understanding the directories, and how to set up the Project on my local machine just to get the application to run. It was really challenging to get this project running at first, I was about to give up but again thanks to the mentor for a fine readme which was helpful in setting this project up and running. As a beginner or someone not familiar with the terms and project niche, it was really hard for me to understand the actual purpose of the project.

PULL REQUEST #1 :

Set Minimum Node Version: This issue helps me to get a basic knowledge of the Project.

https://github.com/mozilla/firefox-voice/pull/1210

This was a fairly simple issue in which i have to set the minimum version of NodeJS. At first I added ‘engineStrict’ but my mentor assure me that ‘engineStrict’ is only used when you have a clear idea about the latest version to use. So immediately I removed it from the code and I set the Nodejs minimum version.After Successfully landing my first PR I jumped over the next issue..

I learned to code in Large codebase for the very first time! I spent hours fighting with GIT and making multiple experiments to make my first PR. I am grateful to the mentor for letting me explore and do things at my own and let me learn about more powerful git features.

PULL REQUEST #2:

Add more examples to Door hanger/pop-up: In this issue I learned about intent and it’s working in the Firefox-voice project.

https://github.com/mozilla/firefox-voice/pull/1383

In this issue I have to add examples so they will appear randomly on the Door hanger.To fix the issue I added the given phrases to the existing list of examples that is displayed in the Door hanger/popup to educate users about the things they can say. First given phrase is “Find spaghetti on page” So i put this phrase in the relevant intent which is “find on page” to appear on pop-up.

Second phrase is “count my open tabs” So I put it in the relevant intent which is “count tabs” to appear on Door hanger/pop-up.Third phrase is about “open downloads” So I also put it in the relevant but intent is
“Downloads”.The First 2 phrases added into the same intent file while the Last one is fixed in different intent file.

After doing Good first issues I jumped over to fix some bugs.

PULL REQUEST #3

Command transcription for a long string is cut off in negative feedback display:

This issue was bit trickier and introduced me the new concepts of CSS.

https://github.com/mozilla/firefox-voice/pull/1476

This issue is about Command transcription for a long string is cut off in negative feedback display. In order to fix this bug Firstly, I made changes to the existing CSS property “White-space” but after asking for more clarification about the issue I have found that the long string is still cut-off in negative feedback display. So I decided to add Few more CSS properties in feedback header to prevent the cut-off of a long string in negative feedback display.

My overall experience comprises of nervousness, excitement, happiness, confidence, frustration, learning, competing, solving different challenges, understanding project and learning new concepts and much more. This is the month where even my weekends were productive. All mentors and contributors are always helping and motivating, celebrates even a small achievement not making us feel dumb at all. My experience is great up till now I’m looking forward to contributing more.