Getting help with questions
The more you use Meteor, the more familiar the major packages will become. However, you may also want to start branching out and doing more advanced things with some of the lesser-known packages. You may also come up with an idea for a new application of Meteor. In any case, you will eventually run into a situation where you need more information than what is contained in the documentation. Here are some quick tips on where to go when you need your questions answered.
How to do it…
There are three major sources for getting your questions answered:
- For specific technical questions or problems, head over to http://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/meteor. Search for questions others have already asked; if you can't find an answer, go ahead and submit a question of your own.
- For general questions and comments, visit the Meteor forums at https://forums.meteor.com/.
- To work in real time with multiple Meteor developers (including members of the core team), you can visit the IRC #meteor chat room on
irc.freenode.net.
How it works…
Let's look at some tips on using each of the previously mentioned resources.
Stack Overflow
Stack Overflow is a very active community of developers, many of whom are eager to help others with their technical questions. For Meteor-specific help, once you've navigated to http://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/meteor, you can perform a search using the keywords that best describe your question, for example, if you are interested in getting Meteor to work inside a PhoneGap application, you may want to search all the tagged [meteor] questions for cordova, as follows:
This will search all the previously submitted questions tagged with the keyword [meteor], which also contain the word cordova somewhere in the question. You will want to look through the results to see whether your question has already been asked. If one of the questions (and the answer to that question) satisfies your needs, great! If your question hasn't been answered already, you can ask your own question.
Click on the button labeled Ask Question:
Fill out the details of your question. Don't forget to include tags to more easily identify and categorize your question. Submit your question and the Stack Overflow community will most likely have an answer for you very quickly.
Meteor forums
Meteor forums are also very active, with lots of enthusiastic Meteor developers visiting the site daily. You can ask questions, view discussions, and leave comments on a lot of different Meteor-related topics. Most of the time, if you have a technical question or problem, it's best to use Stack Overflow. However, forums are also a great resource for more abstract or specific questions about Meteor.
The #meteor on IRC
The #meteor IRC channel is a great channel to join in and listen to. You'll be able to interact with all kinds of brilliant developers, many of whom are willing to answer your questions immediately. Do keep in mind that most questions or problems you're having (especially when you're new to Meteor) have already been addressed on Stack Overflow or the Meteor forums, and it is courteous to first check and make sure your question hasn't been answered there before asking in the IRC chat.
There's more…
Keep in mind that since Meteor is still new, there are many who are struggling with questions that you may be able to answer. Also, when you find the answer to your own question, it may be worth putting it up on Stack Overflow. This will help you save time for other people who may run into the same problem.
Answering other people's questions on Stack Overflow, the Meteor forums, and even on #meteor IRC is a great way to contribute to the community.
Tip
Don't forget to answer your own questions on Stack Overflow, if you happen to find the answers yourself!
