community.html

---
layout: page
id: community
title: Get involved with Sandstorm
---

<header>
  <h1>Get involved in the global Sandstorm community</h1>
  <p>Join app authors and many thousands of users</p>
</header>

<section class="story">
  <h3>Welcome!</h3>
  <p>
We're so glad you're interested in getting involved! We're a movement of app makers, users, open source enthusiasts, self-hosting fanatics, enterprise IT staffers, documentation writers, and more, working together on making server apps safe and easy for everyone to use. Here's how you can contribute.
</section>

<section id="connect-with">
  <h2>Connect with us</h2>
  <ul id="socialmedia">
    <li><a class="fediverse" href="https://floss.social/@sandstorm">Fediverse</a>
    <li><a class="github" href="https://github.com/sandstorm-io/sandstorm">GitHub</a>
    <li><a class="livechat" href="https://kiwiirc.com/client/irc.libera.chat/?channel=#sandstorm">Live Chat</a>
    <li><a class="devgroup" href="https://groups.google.com/group/sandstorm-dev">Dev Group</a>
    <li><a class="youtube" href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8xKZRW86Fa9W00uAppBXXg">YouTube</a>
  </ul>
</section>

<section id="helpothers">
  <h2>Help others</h2>
  <ul>
    <li class="share"><h3>Use &amp; Share Sandstorm</h3>
        <a href="/install">Self-host</a> Sandstorm to install apps from the <a href="https://apps.sandstorm.io">App Market</a>. Then share by email or by sharing link to invite friends and colleagues to collaborate.</p>
    <li class="talk"><h3>Give a Talk</h3>
      <p>Get started with our <a href="https://github.com/sandstorm-io/sandstorm/wiki/Speaker-Kit-Lightning-Talk">speaker kit</a> to prepare your presentation. <a href="https://groups.google.com/group/sandstorm-dev">Send us an email</a> if you need help with finding a venue or preparing for your talk. We'll also send you some sandcat stickers to give out!</p>
    <li class="discuss"><h3>Discuss &amp; Answer Questions</h3>
      <p>Development and user help happens on the <a href="https://groups.google.com/group/sandstorm-dev">sandstorm-dev group</a>; join us and contribute! Real-time chat happens in IRC (<a href="https://kiwiirc.com/client/irc.libera.chat/?channel=#sandstorm">#sandstorm on libera.chat</a>), with <a href="https://libera.irclog.whitequark.org/sandstorm/">chat archives</a> available too.</p>
    <li class="write"><h3>Write a Blog Post</h3>
      <p>Share your Sandstorm experiences with the world by writing a blog post. Send us a link and we'll share it with the community.</p>
  </ul>
</section>
<section id="helpproject">
  <h2>Help the project</h2>
  <ul>
    <li class="package"><h3>Package an App</h3>
      <p>Check out our <a href="https://docs.sandstorm.io/en/latest/vagrant-spk/packaging-tutorial/">tutorial</a> to get started packaging apps for the <a href="https://apps.sandstorm.io/">App Market</a>. If you get stuck, <a href="https://groups.google.com/group/sandstorm-dev"> email us</a> for help or hop on <a href="https://kiwiirc.com/client/irc.libera.chat/?channel=#sandstorm">IRC</a>.</p>
    <li  class="feedback"><h3>Provide Feedback</h3>
      <p>To provide suggestions for each app: visit the <a href="https://apps.sandstorm.io/">Sandstorm App Market</a>, click on the app, click on the app's Code link, then navigate to its issue tracker. You can report bugs in Sandstorm itself on our <a href="https://github.com/sandstorm-io/sandstorm/issues">issue tracker</a>.</p>
    <li class="design"><h3>Design App Icons</h3>
      <p>Many apps packaged for Sandstorm need icons and design help. If you have design skills and would love to help improve apps, <a href="https://groups.google.com/group/sandstorm-dev">send us an e-mail</a> and we'll connect you with apps in need.</p>
    <li class="usability"><h3>Usability Test</h3>
      <p>Usability tests are a great way to identify user problems and areas for improvement. Find volunteers, record them as they try Sandstorm, review the videos, then <a href="https://github.com/sandstorm-io/sandstorm/issues">file issues</a>. For more help read <a href="https://www.nngroup.com/articles/usability-101-introduction-to-usability/">Usability 101</a> by Jakob Nielsen and <a href="https://groups.google.com/group/sandstorm-dev">e-mail us</a> for tips.</p>
    <li class="documentation"><h3>Improve the Documentation</h3>
      <p>The <a href="https://docs.sandstorm.io/">Sandstorm documentation</a> lives in the <a href="https://github.com/sandstorm-io/sandstorm/tree/master/docs">main GitHub repository</a> for Sandstorm. Listen to IRC and the dev group, identify a common question, then submit a pull request.</p>
    <li class="core"><h3>Contribute to the Core</h3>
      <p>Sandstorm's code is open source and lives on <a href="http://github.com/sandstorm-io/sandstorm">GitHub</a>. To contribute bug reports, patches, design ideas, documentation, pull requests, and more check out our <a href="https://github.com/sandstorm-io/sandstorm/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md">guide to contributing.</a></p>
  </ul>
</section>

<div class="action">
    <li>We'd love to hear more ideas</li><a href="https://groups.google.com/group/sandstorm-dev">E-mail us!</a>
</div>