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+# How to contribute
+
+Third-party patches are much appreciated. This is a rather large project
+and a single person can not work on it 24/7 to address all issues and
+feature requests. If you feel comfortable with PHP and Smarty you should
+consider following this contribution guide!
+
+## Getting Started
+
+* Make sure you have a [GitHub account][4].
+* Submit an [Issue][1] for your issue, assuming one does not already exist.
+  * Clearly describe the issue including steps to reproduce when it is a bug.
+  * Make sure you fill in the earliest version that you know has the issue.
+* Fork the repository into your GitHub account
+
+## Making Changes
+
+* Create a topic branch from where you want to base your work.
+  * This is usually the `next` branch.
+  * Only target release branches if you are certain your fix must be on that
+    branch.
+  * To quickly create a topic branch based on `next`; `git branch
+    fix/next/my_contribution next` then checkout the new branch with `git
+    checkout fix/next/my_contribution`.  Please avoid working directly on the
+    `next` branch.
+* Make commits of logical units.
+* Check for unnecessary whitespace with `git diff --check` before committing.
+* Make sure your commit messages are in the proper format.
+
+````
+    (#99999) Make the example in CONTRIBUTING imperative and concrete
+
+    Without this patch applied the example commit message in the CONTRIBUTING
+    document is not a concrete example.  This is a problem because the
+    contributor is left to imagine what the commit message should look like
+    based on a description rather than an example.  This patch fixes the
+    problem by making the example concrete and imperative.
+
+    The first line is a real life imperative statement with an issue number
+    from our issue tracker.  The body describes the behavior without the patch,
+    why this is a problem, and how the patch fixes the problem when applied.
+````
+
+## Submitting Changes
+
+* Push your changes to a topic branch in your fork of the repository.
+* Submit a pull request to the origin repository.
+* Update your issue that you have submitted code and are ready for it to be reviewed.
+  * Include a link to the pull request in the ticket
+
+# Additional Resources
+
+* [Issue Tracker][1]
+* [General GitHub documentation][2]
+* [GitHub pull request documentation][3]
+
+[1]: https://github.com/~/issues "Issue"
+[2]: http://help.github.com/ "GitHub documentation"
+[3]: http://help.github.com/send-pull-requests/ "GitHub pull request documentation"
+[4]: https://github.com/signup/free "GitHub account"