What does Forem mean to me?

I learned about Forem 7 months ago when I joined the DEV team. I was really excited about it and it's been surreal watching it come to life, and being a part of that journey.

A sense of community has always been important to me.

Growing up in a small and close-knit neighborhood meant that I’ve always belonged to a community where we help each other in times of need. Being a Muslim woman has also provided me with community, and it's in this community that I’ve learned to be myself unapologetically and I’ve continued discovering my identity. When I joined the tech industry, I found my community through local meetups and I learned from all the people I met.

Then, as I experienced diversity issues within the industry, I started feeling alone, it's then that I started forming my own community of womxn where we supported each other. Shortly thereafter, I began speaking at conferences in different countries. This was the first step that led to my community becoming global. However, it was DEV that had provided me with the platform to broaden my community even further and empower me to interact with so many talented people all around the world.

Now, with Forem, it excites me that we can expose that same platform to not only developers but to people all around the globe who can find their communities, and feel as empowered as I do.

The journey from DEV to Forem

It's been a journey to get where we are, but it's been loads of fun. One of the first PR’s that I made for Forem was to rename the hardcoded “DEV” with a configurable community name.

Replace DEV with the community name... almost everywhere #7211

Ridhwana posted on Apr 10, 2020

What type of PR is this? (check all applicable)

• [x] Refactor
• [ ] Feature
• [ ] Bug Fix
• [ ] Optimization
• [ ] Documentation Update

Description

Replace DEV with the community name... almost everywhere.

I'll do some more find and replaces in a subsequent PR:

• I missed a few where I need to still make sure that nothing breaks.
• I'll focus on mailers in a separate PR
• and more.... (baby steps for now)

Related Tickets & Documents

https://github.com/thepracticaldev/dev.to/issues/6858

Mobile & Desktop Screenshots/Recordings (if there are UI changes)

Added tests?

• [ ] yes
• [x] no, because they aren't needed
• [ ] no, because I need help

Added to documentation?

• [ ] docs.dev.to
• [ ] readme
• [x] no documentation needed

[optional] Are there any post deployment tasks we need to perform?

[optional] What gif best describes this PR or how it makes you feel?

View on GitHub

It took me almost 4 more subsequent PR’s to cover them all…

That was 6 months ago. We’ve now made so much progress that we’re no longer only retroactively generalizing the codebase but we’re proactively building features for Forem.

What am I currently working on?

My favorite part of the codebase has always been the Forem Site configuration panel whereby Forem admins can configure their site based on their needs and the needs of the community. The saying “Put power in the hands of the user” comes to mind.

Two of the features that I’m currently working on with teammates include:

• Profile Generalisation. This is a feature that will allow a Forem admin to set up a set of configurable information fields that would be beneficial to show on a user’s profile.
• A Configurable Sidebar Navigation where a Forem admin can set what they would like the navigation on their sidebar to be.

There are also many other features that we’re talking about and I’m really excited to see Forem keep improving.

Chat with us.

Let us know what are some cool features that you’d like to see in Forem and what communities are you hoping to see pop up? 😊

Let’s keep empowering people through communities together. 🌱