Reporting bugs

When you or a user comes across a bug, there are a few steps to follow to help developers fix it.

Steps to reproduce the problem

The best bug reports not only describe the problem, but list what steps can be followed to replicate the problem. Here is an example of a bad bug report:

The blog plugin doesn't work. It loses my text.

And here is a good report:

All the text I just typed disappeared when I previewed the blog post. This happens regardless of what browser I use and I'm using Elgg 1.7.2.

Here are the steps to reproduce this:

1. Click on Write blog post.

2. Enter text into the body area.

3. Click on Preview.

4. Click on Return to Edit.

5. The text is all gone.

Not only does the good report list the steps for reproducing the bug, but it also mentions the version of Elgg the problem occurs with and whether this is browser dependent. Bug reports that have this type of information save time because a developer does not have to write back with obvious follow-up questions.

Elgg or plugin?

There are many...