In addition SitePen’s various commercial support options, there are a number of ways to find helpful information on your own. Dojo has a large community of developers and hobbyists all across the globe that are willing to assist with problems and offer guidance. Many tutorials and examples exist and are ready to be found, you just have to look.

Here are some vital community resources available to assist you in your Dojo-learning, and some hints to ensure success:

Dojo Search

Search first, ask later. A quick stop at the dojotoolkit.org search page usually turns up lots of commonly encountered problems. The new search engine has options to help you target specific resources in the Dojo community, like blogs, forums, or archived mailing lists.

Dojo Forums

If you are unable to find any discussion or book entry already, start a new topic in the Dojo forums.

It helps to provide examples contained within code tags, and to politely state your question. If you have tried other methods and failed, mention them as well. The more infomation you provide in your post, the more likely someone is going to quickly be able to assist you.

Also available on the Dojotoolkit website: a collection of Frequently Asked Questions.

#dojo

Join the #dojo chat room on the irc server irc.freenode.net. This room acts as a realtime development center for numbers of people ranging from beginner to expert. Often, many core Dojo developers are available for any level of discussion, at seemingly odd hours of the day. There is no experience requirement, just a desire to learn.

The conversations range from deeply technical to outlandishly silly. It is a very friendly room, and a great way to be in immediate contact with like minded people while developing or learning Dojo. The first rule in the channel topic “Don’t Ask to Ask, just Ask” means just that: Jump right in, and start talking. If help is available, you will likely get a response.

Mailing Lists

Though the forums have taken the place of the once-active mailing lists, this resource is still available, and the preference of some. Simply signup, and begin writing a thoughtful, well researched question, and you are typically going to receive a response. The more thought you put into your post, the more willing people will be to help you.

There are several thousand subscribers to dojo-interest, so civility is expected of everyone.

It is important to remember the Dojo community is entirely voluntary. People helping other people for the good of the Open Web, typically in their spare time. Civility is expected of everyone, and you are not guaranteed any speedy response, if at all. If you find things within the community to be lacking, you are always welcome to contribute. See the Getting Involved guide for more information about what you can do. The community grows daily, and your contributions are just as welcome as everybody elses.