(Edit: to be fair I had another look and a lot of the commit messages on this project really aren't unspecific :+1:)
I'm sure you've all been told this a bunch of times throughout FAC but I still think it's worth highlighting: git flow is super important!
Commit messages should be kept clear and concise. Each one should describe a single piece of work, not be a vague generality that encompasses a bunch of features all crammed into a single commit.
Less:
'Fixed the thing'
'Added components'
More (see gitmoji):
':lipstick: #10 Restyles the navbar'
':bug: #12 fixes the broken home nav link' .
Often the problem isn't just that the message is too vague, but that there's too much content in the commit for a single clear message. If the latter is true then drop into a git UI and fake good flow by picking out the different features as different commits. Both VS Code and Atom have pretty great inbuilt git modules - use them to select just the lines of code that are relevant to a single feature (or use something like GitKraken or sourcetree).
Also make sure that all commits and PRs are linked to issues - if an issue doesn't exist yet then just open it! Even if you're in the middle of something and can't be bothered to type out a long descriptive issue, it's still better to create a little one-liner that you can update once the work is finished than it is to commit to nothing.
It's much easier for people joining a project (or for you in 6 months) if all the commits explain what was changed and are linked to issues that explain why the change was necessary.
(Edit: to be fair I had another look and a lot of the commit messages on this project really aren't unspecific :+1:)
I'm sure you've all been told this a bunch of times throughout FAC but I still think it's worth highlighting: git flow is super important!
Commit messages should be kept clear and concise. Each one should describe a single piece of work, not be a vague generality that encompasses a bunch of features all crammed into a single commit.
Less: 'Fixed the thing' 'Added components'
More (see gitmoji): ':lipstick: #10 Restyles the navbar' ':bug: #12 fixes the broken home nav link' .
Often the problem isn't just that the message is too vague, but that there's too much content in the commit for a single clear message. If the latter is true then drop into a git UI and fake good flow by picking out the different features as different commits. Both VS Code and Atom have pretty great inbuilt git modules - use them to select just the lines of code that are relevant to a single feature (or use something like GitKraken or sourcetree).
Also make sure that all commits and PRs are linked to issues - if an issue doesn't exist yet then just open it! Even if you're in the middle of something and can't be bothered to type out a long descriptive issue, it's still better to create a little one-liner that you can update once the work is finished than it is to commit to nothing.
It's much easier for people joining a project (or for you in 6 months) if all the commits explain what was changed and are linked to issues that explain why the change was necessary.