feat: add contributing tutorial and gh-pages workflow

[matthewhand]

Pull Request Title:

Add Contributing Guidelines and Update GitHub Pages Workflow with Environment Variables

---

Description:

This pull request introduces two contributions:

1. Contributing Guidelines:

   • Adds a new file at docs/tutorials/tips/contributing-tutorial.md.
   • This document provides guidance for contributing code, reporting issues, improving documentation, and engaging with the community.

2. GitHub Pages Workflow Update:

   • Modifies the .github/workflows/gh-pages.yml to support forked repositories by introducing two new environment variables:
     • SITE_URL: Defines the custom site URL used for GitHub Pages deployment.
     • BASE_URL: Configures the base path for deployments.
   • These variables ensure forked repositories can use custom URLs for deployments without conflicts.

---

Files Added/Modified:

• docs/tutorials/tips/contributing-tutorial.md

  • Provides:
  • Community tutorial contribution practices and best practices.

• .github/workflows/gh-pages.yml

  • Adds SITE_URL and BASE_URL environment variables to the deployment workflow to enable customized URLs for forked repositories.

---

Steps to Validate:

1. Review the Contributing Tutorial:

   • Confirm the content in docs/tutorials/tips/contributing-tutorial.md is comprehensive and clear.
   • Ensure it aligns with the project's contribution policies and practices.

2. Test the GitHub Pages Workflow:

   • Add the SITE_URL and BASE_URL secrets to your forked repository.
   • Push changes to the main branch and confirm the deployment reflects the custom URLs.

---

Checklist:

• [x] Verified the content of the contributing tutorial.
• [x] Confirmed the GitHub Pages workflow functions with the environment variables.
• [x] All changes align with the repository’s standards.

[tjbck]

Conflicts?

[matthewhand]

should be fixed with #261. maybe you can rerun the CI? edit: nowait relates to gh-pages.yml. i will investigate and get back to you.

[matthewhand]

seems this file is special, potentially autogenerated when github pages is enabled. and for that reason it seems difficult (impossible?) to cleanly include the differences in this PR.

so I have removed .github/workflows/gh-pages.yml from the PR, leaving just docs/tutorials/tips/contributing-tutorial.md. I would have preferred an atomic commit. but given the special situation, it seems easiest if you just make the update on your end.

edit: ie, pass the envvar to npm like this...

      - name: Build
        env:
          BASE_URL: ${{ vars.BASE_URL }}
          SITE_URL: ${{ vars.SITE_URL }}
        run: npm run build

[tjbck]

Cherry-picked changes, Thanks!