Improve CONTRIBUTE.md

Author: FBumann

CONTRIBUTE.md

@@ -1,44 +1,135 @@
-# Contributing to the Project
+# Contributing to FlixOpt
 
-We warmly welcome contributions from the community! This guide will help you get started with contributing to our project.
+We warmly welcome contributions from the community! Whether you're fixing bugs, adding features, improving documentation, or sharing examples, your contributions are valuable.
+
+## Ways to Contribute
+
+### 🐛 Report Issues
+Found a bug or have a feature request? Please [open an issue](https://github.com/flixOpt/flixopt/issues) on GitHub.
+
+When reporting issues, please include:
+- A clear description of the problem
+- Steps to reproduce the issue
+- Expected vs. actual behavior
+- Your environment (OS, Python version, FlixOpt version)
+- Minimal code example if applicable
+
+### 💡 Share Examples
+Help others learn FlixOpt by contributing examples:
+- Real-world use cases
+- Tutorial notebooks
+- Integration examples with other tools
+- Add them to the `examples/` directory
+
+### 📖 Improve Documentation
+Documentation improvements are always welcome:
+- Fix typos or clarify existing docs
+- Add missing documentation
+- Translate documentation
+- Improve code comments
+
+### 🔧 Submit Code Contributions
+Ready to contribute code? Great! See the sections below for setup and guidelines.
+
+---
 
 ## Development Setup
-1. Clone the repository `git clone https://github.com/flixOpt/flixopt.git`
-2. Install the development dependencies `pip install -e ".[full, dev]"`
-3. Install pre-commit hooks `pre-commit install` (one-time setup)
-4. Run `pytest` to ensure your code passes all tests
 
-## Code Quality
-We use [Ruff](https://github.com/astral-sh/ruff) for linting and formatting. After the one-time setup above, **code quality checks run automatically on every commit**.
+### Getting Started
+1. Fork and clone the repository:
+   ```bash
+   git clone https://github.com/flixOpt/flixopt.git
+   cd flixopt
+   ```
 
-To run manually:
-- `ruff check --fix .` to check and fix linting issues
-- `ruff format .` to format code or
-- `pre-commit run` or `pre-commit run --all-files` to trigger all checks
+2. Install development dependencies:
+   ```bash
+   pip install -e ".[full, dev]"
+   ```
 
-## Documentation (Optional)
+3. Set up pre-commit hooks (one-time setup):
+   ```bash
+   pre-commit install
+   ```
+
+4. Verify your setup:
+   ```bash
+   pytest
+   ```
+
+### Working with Documentation
 FlixOpt uses [mkdocs](https://www.mkdocs.org/) to generate documentation.
+
 To work on documentation:
 ```bash
 pip install -e ".[docs]"
 mkdocs serve
 ```
 Then navigate to http://127.0.0.1:8000/
 
-## Testing
-- `pytest` to run the test suite
-
 ---
-# Best practices
 
-## Coding Guidelines
+## Code Quality Standards
+
+### Automated Checks
+We use [Ruff](https://github.com/astral-sh/ruff) for linting and formatting. After the one-time setup above, **code quality checks run automatically on every commit**.
+
+### Manual Checks
+To run checks manually:
+- `ruff check --fix .` - Check and fix linting issues
+- `ruff format .` - Format code
+- `pre-commit run --all-files` - Run all pre-commit checks
+
+### Testing
+- `pytest` - Run the test suite
+- Ensure all tests pass before submitting a PR
 
-- Follow PEP 8 style guidelines
-- Write clear, commented code
-- Include type hints
+### Coding Guidelines
+- Follow [PEP 8](https://pep8.org/) style guidelines
+- Write clear, self-documenting code with helpful comments
+- Include type hints for function signatures
 - Create or update tests for new functionality
-- Ensure 100% test coverage for new code
+- Aim for 100% test coverage for new code
+
+---
+
+## Workflow
+
+### Branches & Pull Requests
+1. Create a feature branch from `main`:
+   ```bash
+   git checkout -b feature/your-feature-name
+   ```
+
+2. Make your changes and commit them with clear messages
+
+3. Push your branch and open a Pull Request
+
+4. Ensure all CI checks pass
+
+### Branch Naming
+- Features: `feature/feature-name`
+- Bug fixes: `fix/bug-description`
+- Documentation: `docs/what-changed`
+
+### Commit Messages
+- Use clear, descriptive commit messages
+- Start with a verb (Add, Fix, Update, Remove, etc.)
+- Keep the first line under 72 characters
+
+---
+
+## Releases
+
+We follow **Semantic Versioning** (MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH). Releases are created manually from the `main` branch by maintainers.
+
+---
+
+## Questions?
+
+If you have questions or need help, feel free to:
+- Open a discussion on GitHub
+- Ask in an issue
+- Reach out to the maintainers
 
-## Branches & Releases
-New features should be branched from `main` into `feature/*`
-As stated, we follow **Semantic Versioning**. Releases are created manually from the `main` branch.
+Thank you for contributing to FlixOpt!