more on contributing in readme

README.adoc

@@ -137,16 +137,54 @@ To build the small benchmarking suite (requires https://github.com/chris00/ocaml
 
 == Contributing
 
-PRs on github are welcome (patches by email too, if you prefer so).
+PRs on github are very welcome (patches by email too, if you prefer so).
 
-A few guidelines:
+[[first-time-contribute]]
+=== First-Time Contributors
+
+Assuming your are in a clone of the repository:
+
+. Some dependencies are required, you'll need
+  `opam install benchmark qcheck qtest sequence`. 
+. run `make devel` to enable everything (including tests).
+. make your changes, commit, push, and open a PR.
+. use `make test` without moderation! It must pass before a PR
+  is merged.  There are around 900 tests right now, and new
+  features should come with their own tests.
+
+If you feel like writing new tests, that is totally worth a PR
+(and my gratefulness).
+
+=== General Guidelines
+
+A few guidelines to follow the philosophy of containers:
 
 - no dependencies between basic modules (even just for signatures);
 - add `@since` tags for new functions;
-- add tests if possible (using `qtest`).
+- add tests if possible (using https://github.com/vincent-hugot/iTeML/[qtest]). There are numerous inline tests already,
+to see what it looks like search for comments starting with `(*$`
+in source files.
 
-It is helpful to run `make devel` to enable everything. Some dependencies
-are required, you'll need `opam install benchmark qcheck qtest sequence`. 
+=== For Total Beginners
+
+Thanks for wanting to contribute!
+To contribute a change, here are the steps (roughly):
+
+. click "fork" on https://github.com/c-cube/ocaml-containers on the top right of the page. This will create a copy of the repository on your own github account.
+. click the big green "clone or download" button, with "SSH". Copy the URL (which should look like `git@github.com:<your username>/ocaml-containers.git`) into a terminal to enter the command:
++
+[source,sh]
+----
+$ git clone git@github.com:<your username>/ocaml-containers.git
+----
++
+. then, `cd` into the newly created directory.
+. make the changes you want. See <<first-time-contribute>> for
+  more details about what to do in particular.
+. use `git add` and `git commit` to commit these changes.
+. `git push origin master` to push the new change(s) onto your
+  copy of the repository
+. on github, open a "pull request" (PR). Et voilà !
 
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