docs: improve onboarding for first-time contributors

[Smitaambiger]

Fixes #677

This PR improves the onboarding experience for first-time contributors by:

• Adding a beginner-friendly quick start section to ONBOARDING.md
• Adding a first-time contributor workflow to CONTRIBUTING.md
• Fixing minor grammar and clarity issues in README.md

These changes aim to help new contributors get started without needing to set up the full backend.

Summary by CodeRabbit

• Documentation
  • Added comprehensive first-time contributor workflow guide with step-by-step instructions
  • Expanded onboarding documentation with quick start guide for new contributors
  • Added Firebase notification configuration guidance
  • Clarified optional backend setup requirements for development
  • Fixed spelling errors in feature descriptions

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[github-actions]

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• If this PR fixes an issue, link it in the description. 🔗

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[coderabbitai]

📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

Three documentation files updated to improve first-time contributor experience: CONTRIBUTING.md receives a new seven-step contributor workflow section; ONBOARDING.md gains a quick-start guide for contributors avoiding full backend setup and Firebase configuration instructions; README.md has two typos corrected.

Changes

Cohort / File(s)	Summary
Documentation - Contribution Guides CONTRIBUTING.md, ONBOARDING.md	Adds first-time contributor workflow (fork → clone → branch → commit → push → PR) to CONTRIBUTING.md. Introduces quick-start section in ONBOARDING.md for contributors without backend setup; documents Firebase FCM configuration steps including code modifications in main.dart and controller files.
Documentation - Core Files README.md	Corrects two spelling errors: "progess" → "progress" and "favourate" → "favorite".

Estimated code review effort

🎯 2 (Simple) | ⏱️ ~12 minutes

Possibly related PRs

• Setup CI/CD to automatically compile and deploy builds to Internal Testing on Google Play #505: Overlaps with ONBOARDING.md documentation for baseDomain/runtime dart-define configuration.

Suggested labels

enhancement, gsoc

Poem

🐰 A rabbit hops through docs with glee,
New paths are clear for all to see!
"Fork, clone, branch"—the workflow's bright,
While Firebase tips shine in the light.
First-timers welcome, no backend fright! 📚✨

Pre-merge checks

✅ Passed checks (5 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Description Check	✅ Passed	Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly and concisely summarizes the main change: improving onboarding documentation for first-time contributors.
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	The pull request fully addresses all coding-related requirements from issue #677: adds beginner-friendly quick start to ONBOARDING.md, adds first-time contributor workflow to CONTRIBUTING.md, and fixes grammar in README.md.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	All changes in the pull request are directly aligned with issue #677 requirements; no out-of-scope modifications were introduced.
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	No functions found in the changed files to evaluate docstring coverage. Skipping docstring coverage check.

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[Smitaambiger]

I’ve opened a PR addressing this issue. Please let me know if any changes are needed.

[coderabbitai]

Actionable comments posted: 1

🧹 Nitpick comments (1)

ONBOARDING.md (1)

19-20: Clarify the Firebase note's applicability for first-time contributors.

The Firebase/FCM setup note, while detailed and technically accurate, immediately follows the "Without Full Backend" quick-start section. This placement may confuse readers about whether they should follow the instructions. The note opens with "new contributors do not have to setup firebase," but then provides detailed setup steps, which could seem contradictory.

Consider either:

1. Moving the Firebase note to a separate, later section (e.g., after "Core Project Services Set Up") with a clearer heading like "Optional: Setting up Firebase for Notifications"
2. Adding explicit context emphasizing that this is only for contributors who want to test FCM notifications and is entirely optional for other contribution types

This will help keep the quick-start section focused on the stated goal of avoiding setup complexity.

📜 Review details

Configuration used: defaults

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between b063ecb and 9e16f39.

📒 Files selected for processing (3)

• CONTRIBUTING.md
• ONBOARDING.md
• README.md

🔇 Additional comments (2)

CONTRIBUTING.md (1)

57-70: First-Time Contributor Workflow section is clear and well-structured.

The new section provides an accessible, step-by-step guide that is appropriately pitched for new contributors. The workflow is accurate (branching from dev, targeting dev in PRs), and the encouragement to open discussions/issues when unsure is helpful. This directly supports the PR's goal of improving the onboarding experience.

ONBOARDING.md (1)

7-17: Quick-Start section provides excellent guidance for first-time contributors.

The section effectively communicates that backend setup is not required initially and provides concrete, achievable activities (Flutter code exploration, docs reading, dependency check, issue reporting). This directly addresses the PR's objective to help new contributors get started without full backend complexity.

[coderabbitai]

⚠️ Potential issue | 🟡 Minor

Fix grammatical issue in feature description.

The phrase "Listen to and Stories as chapters..." is grammatically incomplete. It should likely read "Listen to Stories as chapters..." or similar.

🔎 Suggested correction

-4. Listen to and Stories as chapters with synced lyrics, browse through entire catalog of stories following your favorite creators and waiting for their latest chapter/story releases. Post your own stories having chapters. (work in progress)
+4. Listen to Stories as chapters with synced lyrics, browse through entire catalog of stories following your favorite creators and waiting for their latest chapter/story releases. Post your own stories having chapters. (work in progress)

Alternatively, if "and" was intended to connect two actions:

-4. Listen to and Stories as chapters with synced lyrics, browse through entire catalog of stories following your favorite creators and waiting for their latest chapter/story releases. Post your own stories having chapters. (work in progress)
+4. Create and listen to Stories as chapters with synced lyrics, browse through entire catalog of stories following your favorite creators and waiting for their latest chapter/story releases. Post your own stories having chapters. (work in progress)

📝 Committable suggestion

‼️ IMPORTANT
Carefully review the code before committing. Ensure that it accurately replaces the highlighted code, contains no missing lines, and has no issues with indentation. Thoroughly test & benchmark the code to ensure it meets the requirements.

Suggested change

	4. Listen to and Stories as chapters with synced lyrics, browse through entire catalog of stories following your favorite creators and waiting for their latest chapter/story releases. Post your own stories having chapters. (work in progress)
	4. Listen to Stories as chapters with synced lyrics, browse through entire catalog of stories following your favorite creators and waiting for their latest chapter/story releases. Post your own stories having chapters. (work in progress)

Suggested change

	4. Listen to and Stories as chapters with synced lyrics, browse through entire catalog of stories following your favorite creators and waiting for their latest chapter/story releases. Post your own stories having chapters. (work in progress)
	4. Create and listen to Stories as chapters with synced lyrics, browse through entire catalog of stories following your favorite creators and waiting for their latest chapter/story releases. Post your own stories having chapters. (work in progress)

🤖 Prompt for AI Agents

In README.md around line 48, the feature sentence "Listen to and Stories as
chapters with synced lyrics, browse through entire catalog of stories following
your favorite creators and waiting for their latest chapter/story releases. Post
your own stories having chapters. (work in progress)" is grammatically
incorrect; replace the fragment "Listen to and Stories as chapters..." with a
corrected phrase such as "Listen to Stories as chapters with synced lyrics..."
(or if two actions were intended, change to "Listen to and read Stories as
chapters with synced lyrics..."), and then ensure the rest of the sentence reads
smoothly (e.g., "Browse the entire catalog of stories, follow your favorite
creators to get updates on new chapter/story releases, and post your own
multi-chapter stories. (work in progress)").

[Smitaambiger]

I noticed there was an older issue (#587) focused on local setup versions.
This PR focuses specifically on first-time contributor onboarding and GitHub workflow clarity, which I felt was still a gap.
Please let me know if any adjustments are needed.