Update

So far, working with my group has been going pretty smoothly. Everyone’s been on the same page about wanting to work on a JavaScript/TypeScript-based open source project, which made it easier to narrow our focus early on. We’ve had good communication and were able to bounce ideas off of each other when looking at potential projects. However, we had to switch gears since it was looking like the owner of our chosen project would not be active in the rmerging process, and our goal is to have an ultimate contribution.

That was definitely a bit of a setback, but I think it helped us refocus on what we actually need from a good open source project. We came up with a clearer list of what we’re looking for: something interesting, active, beginner-friendly (since none of us are React experts yet), and with a welcoming community.

Right now, we’ve narrowed it down to a few solid options like Excalidraw, Mermaid.js, and Lucide. Each has its pros and cons — for example, Excalidraw is super popular but also more complex, while Mermaid involves a bit more math. However, Lucide seems to be more active in its issues.. Still, I think we’re almost there in terms of making a final decision.

Obstacles

The biggest obstacle so far has just been finding the right project. It’s harder than it sounds! But we’ve been working through it together, and I think that’s helped us grow as a team. I’m excited to see which one we end up choosing and to finally start contributing.

We are planning to meet as a group after our next class to make a final decision. Hopefully, by then we’ll have had time to look a bit deeper into the repositories we’re considering and weigh the pros and cons of each one. Everyone has shared great input so far, so I’m confident we’ll come to a choice that we’re all happy with.

No matter which project we go with, I think this process has already helped us develop a better understanding of what to look for in open source communities — not just in terms of code, but also collaboration, communication, and overall project health. I’m looking forward to getting hands-on and making our first real contributions soon!

My Preference

Personally, I’ve been most interested in Lucide — it’s a modern, open-source icon library built in TypeScript. I like how clean and well-maintained the codebase is, and it feels like something we can realistically contribute to while still learning a lot in the process. Plus, design-related front-end tools like this are super useful in the dev world, so I think it would be a great learning opportunity.

Although TypeScript is intimidating at first, I see it as a valuable challenge. It pushes us to write more structured, readable code, and I know that getting more comfortable with it will pay off in the long run. Contributing to a project like Lucide would give me the chance to practice and improve in a real-world setting, which is much more engaging than just following tutorials. Even if it takes a little extra time to get used to, I’m confident the experience will be worth it. I will further discuss my interest in this project during my group’s next meeting.