Summary
The PR template is quite lengthy and it's hard to find the places where to put text. There's a conflict between being very explicit and helpful to new contributors vs. usability for more experienced contributors (not just core devs, but generally people who know how to do a PR. - I find long PR templates off-putting.
Proposed fix
-
Condense to one-line descriptions for introduction, AI disclosure, and PR checklist.
-
Do not add checkboxes for the format checks. The check items generally have two possible purposes:
- Remind the author of the topic
- Document that this has been done, so that reviewers can quickly see it.
For (i) a simple bullet list is enough, we don't need ticked boxes.
(ii) is immediately visible in the PR so that checking these is not an advantage to reviewers. - In contrast, it's rather noise. I don't need to see that the author has confirmed to use a meaningful title.
I'm even considering whether we need checkboxes for the content, or could condense the PR checklist further. But for simplicity I've left them. This can be further discussed later if needed.
Suggestion as screenshot - so that you can see how it looks like:
Suggestion as code - primarily so that you can copy and edit easily:
<!-- Thank you for your PR! Please check our development guide https://matplotlib.org/devdocs/devel/index.html -->
## PR summary
<!-- Please describe what problem is solved and why you chose this solution. -->
## AI Disclosure
<!-- Please describe if and how AI is used. See also our AI policy: https://matplotlib.org/devdocs/devel/contribute.html#use-of-generative-ai -->
## PR checklist
<!--
| ### PR format reminder:
|
| - "closes #0000" is in the body of the PR description to
| [link the related issue](https://docs.github.com/en/issues/tracking-your-work-with-issues/linking-a-pull-request-to-an-issue)
| - Meaningful title; e.g. "Raise ValueError on non-numeric input to set_xlim", not "Addresses issue #8576".
| - If possible, please provide a minimum self-contained example.
|
| ### PR content (Please mark any checkboxes that do not apply to this PR as [N/A]):
-->
- [ ] new and changed code is [tested](https://matplotlib.org/devdocs/devel/testing.html)
- [ ] *Plotting related* features are demonstrated in an [example](https://matplotlib.org/devdocs/devel/document.html#write-examples-and-tutorials)
- [ ] *New Features* and *API Changes* are noted with a [directive and release note](https://matplotlib.org/devdocs/devel/api_changes.html#announce-changes-deprecations-and-new-features)
- [ ] Documentation complies with [general](https://matplotlib.org/devdocs/devel/document.html#write-rest-pages) and [docstring](https://matplotlib.org/devdocs/devel/document.html#write-docstrings) guidelines
Summary
The PR template is quite lengthy and it's hard to find the places where to put text. There's a conflict between being very explicit and helpful to new contributors vs. usability for more experienced contributors (not just core devs, but generally people who know how to do a PR. - I find long PR templates off-putting.
Proposed fix
Condense to one-line descriptions for introduction, AI disclosure, and PR checklist.
Do not add checkboxes for the format checks. The check items generally have two possible purposes:
For (i) a simple bullet list is enough, we don't need ticked boxes.
(ii) is immediately visible in the PR so that checking these is not an advantage to reviewers. - In contrast, it's rather noise. I don't need to see that the author has confirmed to use a meaningful title.
I'm even considering whether we need checkboxes for the content, or could condense the PR checklist further. But for simplicity I've left them. This can be further discussed later if needed.
Suggestion as screenshot - so that you can see how it looks like:
Suggestion as code - primarily so that you can copy and edit easily: