clean up readme a bit

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Jeff Atwood 2013-04-10 21:25:34 -07:00
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@ -22,30 +22,30 @@ Before you get started, ensure you have the following minimum versions: [Ruby 1.
## Vision
Discourse is a **Civilized Discourse Construction Kit**, an 100% open-source discussion platform that is free for everyone to use and contribute to -- forever. Our key mission goals:
Discourse is the **Civilized Discourse Construction Kit**, an 100% open-source discussion platform that is free for everyone to use and contribute to -- forever. Our key mission goals:
- A **flattened, endlessly scrolling discussion**, avoiding the awkwardness of traditionally threaded and paginated discussion, while allowing replies to be expanded in place for additional context.
- A **flattened, endlessly scrolling discussion**, which avoids the awkwardness of traditionally threaded and paginated discussion, while still allowing replies to be expanded in place for context.
- A **user trust system** that grants users additional rights to assist in moderating the forum as they participate in good faith over time. The goal is for the forum to be nearly self-moderating in the absence of any formal moderators, although excellent moderators accelerate the process greatly.
- A **user trust system** that grants users rights to assist in moderating the forum as they participate in good faith over time. The goal is for the forum to be nearly self-moderating in the absence of any formal moderators, although excellent moderators do accelerate the process greatly.
- An **advanced JavaScript app** which runs in modern browsers and works identically on desktop and tablet, without the need for a native app.
- A **contemporary, robust technology stack**, free of legacy PHP and MySQL constraints limiting developers and administrators.
- A **contemporary, robust technology stack**, free of legacy PHP and MySQL constraints.
The Discourse team wishes to **foster an active community of contributors**, all of whom commit to delivering this continued vision, ensuring that free, unfettered online discussion can grow and thrive in an Internet age dominated by micro-blogging, and diminishing attention spans. Online discussion belongs to all of us, not just huge corporate websites.
The Discourse team wishes to **foster an active community of contributors**, all of whom commit to free, simple, pleasat to use online discussion software that will thrive in an Internet age dominated by micro-blogging and diminishing attention spans. Online discussion belongs to everyone, not just huge corporate websites.
This vision translates to the following functional commitments:
Discourse is built for the *next* 10 years of the Internet, so our requirements are high:
1. Support only modern browsers on the desktop:
1. Modern browsers on the desktop:
- Internet Explorer 9.0 (may not be fully functional), 10.0+
- Firefox 16+
- Google Chrome 23+
- Safari 5+
2. Support the latest generation of tablets, 7" or larger
2. The latest generation of tablets, 7" or larger
- iPad 2+
- Android 4.1+
- Windows 8
3. Deliver support for the latest generation of small screen mobile/smartphones *as soon as possible*:
3. Modern small screen mobile/smartphones *as soon as possible*:
- Windows Phone 8
- iOS 5+
- Android 4.0+
@ -56,11 +56,11 @@ This vision translates to the following functional commitments:
[![Code Climate](https://codeclimate.com/github/discourse/discourse.png)](https://codeclimate.com/github/discourse/discourse)
Discourse is **100% free** and **open-source**. We encourage and support an active, healthy community that
accepts contributions from the public, and we'd like you to be a part of that community.
accepts contributions from the public. We'd like you to be a part of that community.
Before contributing to Discourse, please:
1. Review the [**VISION**](#vision) statement, to confirm that you understand the needs of the team and the focus of the project,
1. Review the [**VISION**](#vision) statement, to confirm that you understand the focus of the project,
2. Read and sign the [**Electronic Discourse Forums Contribution License Agreement**](http://discourse.org/cla), to confirm you've read and acknowledged the legal aspects of your contributions, and
3. Dig into [**CONTRIBUTING.MD**](https://github.com/discourse/discourse/blob/master/docs/CONTRIBUTING.md), which houses all of the necessary info to:
- submit bugs,
@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ Before contributing to Discourse, please:
- step you through the entire process of preparing your code for a Pull Request.
4. Not sure what to work on? [**We've got some ideas!**](http://meta.discourse.org/t/so-you-want-to-help-out-with-discourse/3823)
**We look forward to seeing your cool stuff!**
We look forward to seeing your cool stuff!
## Having Problems getting set up?
@ -85,16 +85,6 @@ Discourse is built from the following open source components:
Plus *lots* of Ruby Gems, a complete list of which is at [**SOFTWARE.MD**](https://github.com/discourse/discourse/blob/master/docs/SOFTWARE.md).
## Versioning
Discourse implements the [Semantic Versioning guidelines](http://semver.org/). Releases will be numbered with the following format:
`<major>.<minor>.<patch>`
- Breaking backward compatibility bumps the major (and resets the minor and patch)
- New additions without breaking backward compatibility bumps the minor (and resets the patch)
- Bug fixes and misc changes bumps the patch
## The Discourse Team
The original Discourse code contributors can be found in [**AUTHORS.MD**](https://github.com/discourse/discourse/blob/master/docs/AUTHORS.md). For a complete list of the many individuals that contributed to the design and implementation of Discourse, please refer to [the official Discourse website](http://www.discourse.org).