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Is making polished Mac repair guides as a user feasible?

I recently replaced my second 15" Macbook Pro keyboard after water damage, a super important guide which iFixit doesn't have. I'd love to help document that process so others don't have to replace the entire top assembly when a keyboard would do the job (wasteful!) but there are so many things I can't figure out about the site:

  • Is it good practice to use the polished guide steps that already exist, and tack on my own steps at the end?
  • If so, how can one do that when prerequisites conflict with each other, do the same thing multiple times, or can't be linked because I can't get to their pages as a user?
  • What should I do if iFixit doesn't stock the right part (bare keyboard, backlight)?
  • How am I supposed to get help with these kinds of questions from knowledgeable people?

I really want to contribute but it seems like pretty much every useful guide, at least in the Mac section, is by a staff member. Is there a way to get support as a community guide-maker? This is the only part of the site I could find with any sort of community.

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I am a bit confused between your question and the answer. You are inquiring about the guide, not the repair itself. Correct?

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For some context, here is the conversation we were having on Twitter yesterday: https://twitter.com/marcustyphoon/status...

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Hey Marcus,

Great question! Let me attempt to answer:

  • Definitely. The best thing you can do is start a new guide, and then use the most-applicable existing guide (whether ours or some other user's) as a prerequisite. It's quite simple -- just add the existing guide in the "List any prerequisite guides" section, found under the Details tab of the new guide you're creating:

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  • Managing guide conflicts can be a tricky thing. You want to remove just the right components in order to get to the keyboard, and nothing more. I don't know what specific machine you're working with, so I can't tell you which guide to use as a prerequisite.
  • If we don't stock the right part, then you can still create the guide and either leave the Parts section blank, or find the best non-iFixit alternative -- whatever you feel is the best solution for other users.
  • Best thing to do is to ask questions on Answers, or Meta. Answers is geared toward helping people fix their machines, while Meta is for asking questions regarding iFixit's site, like you're doing right now. Feel free to ask whatever you'd like!
  • Lighting. I heard that you were apprehensive of taking pictures for your guide due to having a poor light setup at your home. Short of making a hardware store run and getting clamp lights, there are some free/cheap solutions as well:
    • Shoot pictures during the day in direct sunlight, or direct shade. Just don't mix and match the two, because that will confuse the camera's light meter. You want consistent lighting on both the subject and background.
    • Got some lamps? Buy some awesome daylight bulbs, and that should help pictures tremendously without a huge $$$ investment.
    • Need a nice background? Get yourself a $1 white poster board. As a free alternative, pretty much any other clean, non-reflective surface will do -- it doesn't have to be white.
    • Need pointers on how to set everything up? Check out our photography section for tips and tricks on camera settings, lighting, and all that fun stuff.

Hope that helps!

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I appreciate it a lot! I'll ask a separate question if this gets complicated, but is there a way to use only some steps from a previous (staff) guide? I went through all of the 2011 and 2010 15" MBP guides to get an idea of how things work and it looks like there's some overlaps that are unavoidable.

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If you want to use only *part* of a guide (that isn't itself composed of prereqs), then the prerequisites aren't split enough.

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The specific issue is that, just as http://www.ifixit.com/Info/Repair_Guide#... explains well, there are multiple steps that "have the same number," (wifi + OD and fans+logic board) but in this case they're BOTH necessary before the keyboard, but both prereq guides assume you're not doing the other one. And topcase obviously goes too far.

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Marcus, how about you tell us the specific machine you're referring to, and let's see if we can come up with the right guide(s) to use as prereqs?

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15" Macbook Pro (unibody, non-retina) - they were early and late 2011s, but I believe it's the same for 2010-2012. Need to remove the optical drive and logic board without duplicated steps. (Also, I'd need to take one back apart again to get photos... sigh.)

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Marcus will be eternally grateful.