add contributing guide

CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+# Contributing Guidelines
+
+Contributions are welcome from all!
+
+## Opening an Issues
+
+Before [creating an issue](https://help.github.com/en/github/managing-your-work-on-github/creating-an-issue), check if you are using the latest version of the project. If you are not up-to-date, see if updating fixes your issue first.
+
+### :beetle: Bug Reports and Other Issues
+
+A great way to contribute to the project is to send a detailed issue when you encounter a problem. We always appreciate a well-written, thorough bug report. :v:
+
+In short, since you are most likely a developer, **provide a ticket that you would like to receive**.
+
+- **Review the documentation and [Support Guide](https://github.com/jessesquires/.github/blob/main/SUPPORT.md)** before opening a new issue.
+
+- **Do not open a duplicate issue!** Search through existing issues to see if your issue has previously been reported. If your issue exists, comment with any additional information you have. You may simply note "I have this problem too", which helps prioritize the most common problems and requests. 
+
+- **Prefer using [reactions](https://github.blog/2016-03-10-add-reactions-to-pull-requests-issues-and-comments/)**, not comments, if you simply want to "+1" an existing issue.
+
+- **Fully complete the provided issue template.** The bug report template requests all the information we need to quickly and efficiently address your issue. Be clear, concise, and descriptive. Provide as much information as you can, including steps to reproduce, stack traces, compiler errors, library versions, OS versions, and screenshots (if applicable).
+
+- **Use [GitHub-flavored Markdown](https://help.github.com/en/github/writing-on-github/basic-writing-and-formatting-syntax).** Especially put code blocks and console outputs in backticks (```). This improves readability.
+
+
+## :repeat: Submitting Pull Requests
+
+We **love** pull requests! Before [forking the repo](https://help.github.com/en/github/getting-started-with-github/fork-a-repo) and [creating a pull request](https://help.github.com/en/github/collaborating-with-issues-and-pull-requests/proposing-changes-to-your-work-with-pull-requests) for non-trivial changes, it is usually best to first open an issue to discuss the changes, or discuss your intended approach for solving the problem in the comments for an existing issue.
+
+For most contributions, after your first pull request is accepted and merged, you will be [invited to the project](https://help.github.com/en/github/setting-up-and-managing-your-github-user-account/inviting-collaborators-to-a-personal-repository) and given **push access**. :tada:
+
+*Note: All contributions will be licensed under the project's license.*
+
+- **Smaller is better.** Submit **one** pull request per bug fix or feature. A pull request should contain isolated changes pertaining to a single bug fix or feature implementation. **Do not** refactor or reformat code that is unrelated to your change. It is better to **submit many small pull requests** rather than a single large one. Enormous pull requests will take enormous amounts of time to review, or may be rejected altogether. 
+
+- **Coordinate bigger changes.** For large and non-trivial changes, open an issue to discuss a strategy with the maintainers. Otherwise, you risk doing a lot of work for nothing!
+
+- **Prioritize understanding over cleverness.** Write code clearly and concisely. Remember that source code usually gets written once and read often. Ensure the code is clear to the reader. The purpose and logic should be obvious to a reasonably skilled developer, otherwise you should add a comment that explains it.
+
+- **Follow existing coding style and conventions.** Keep your code consistent with the style, formatting, and conventions in the rest of the code base. When possible, these will be enforced with a linter. Consistency makes it easier to review and modify in the future.
+
+- **Update the example project** if one exists to exercise any new functionality you have added.
+
+- **Add documentation.** Document your changes with code doc comments or in existing guides.
+
+- **Use the repo's default branch.** Branch from and [submit your pull request](https://help.github.com/en/github/collaborating-with-issues-and-pull-requests/creating-a-pull-request-from-a-fork) to the repo's default branch (`main`).
+
+- **[Resolve any merge conflicts](https://help.github.com/en/github/collaborating-with-issues-and-pull-requests/resolving-a-merge-conflict-on-github)** that occur.
+
+- **Promptly address any CI failures**. If your pull request fails to build or pass tests, please push another commit to fix it. 
+
+- When writing comments, use properly constructed sentences
+
+- Use spaces, not tabs.
+
+## Coding Style
+
+This repo includes several GitHub actions to help catch issues with coding formats, especially related to YAML formatting.
+
+Please attempt to resolve all of the issues raised by the automatic linting when opening a PR.  If you need assistance please feel free to comment on your PR to ask for recommendations.
+