feat: Update repo READMEs and affected files

This commit removes the CHANGELOG file from the repository, as it was
not being used. The README and CONTRIBUTING files have been streamlined,
and now more accurately reflect the user flow when contributing.

Some GitHub templates have been updated to reflect these changes, and
also include relative links instead of axiomatic blobs, which will make
finding and updating links easier in the future.

Author: ADubhlaoich

.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/1-feature_request.md

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 name: Feature request
 about: Suggest an idea for this project
 title: ""
-labels: ""
+labels: "enhancement"
 assignees: ""
 ---
 

.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/2-bug_report.md

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 name: Bug report
 about: Create a report to help us improve
 title: ""
-labels: ""
+labels: "bug"
 assignees: ""
 ---
 

.github/pull_request_template.md

@@ -26,10 +26,10 @@ Before merging a pull request, run through this checklist and mark each as compl
 - [ ] I have rebased my branch onto main
 - [ ] I have ensured my PR is targeting the main branch and pulling from my branch from my own fork
 - [ ] I have ensured that the commit messages adhere to [Conventional Commits](https://www.conventionalcommits.org/en/v1.0.0/#summary)
-- [ ] I have ensured that documentation content adheres to [the style guide](https://github.com/nginx/documentation/blob/main/templates/style-guide.md)
+- [ ] I have ensured that documentation content adheres to [the style guide](/documentation/style-guide.md)
 - [ ] If the change involves potentially sensitive changes[^1], I have assessed the possible impact
 - [ ] If applicable, I have added tests that prove my fix is effective or that my feature works
 - [ ] I have ensured that existing tests pass after adding my changes
-- [ ] If applicable, I have updated [`README.md`](https://github.com/nginx/documentation/blob/main/README.md) and [`CHANGELOG.md`](https://github.com/nginx/documentation/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md)
+- [ ] If applicable, I have updated [`README.md`](/README.md)
 
-[^1]: Potentially sensitive changes include anything involving code, personally identify information (PII), live URLs or significant amounts of new or revised documentation. Please refer to [our style guide](https://github.com/nginx/documentation/blob/main/templates/style-guide.md) for guidance about placeholder content.
+[^1]: Potentially sensitive changes include anything involving code, personally identify information (PII), live URLs or significant amounts of new or revised documentation. Please refer to [our style guide](/documentation/README.md) for guidance about placeholder content.

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -1,38 +1,36 @@
 # Contributing guidelines
 
-The following is a set of guidelines for community contributions to this project.
-
-We really appreciate your desire to contribute!
+The following are a set of guidelines for contributing to this project. We appreciate your desire to get involved!
 
 If you are an F5 employee, see the following additional guidance on [Maintainers etiquette](/documentation/maintainers-etiquette.md).
 
 ## Table of contents
 
-- [Report a Bug](#report-a-bug)
-- [Suggest a Feature or Enhancement](#suggest-a-feature-or-enhancement)
-- [Open a Discussion](#open-a-discussion)
+- [Create an issue](#create-an-issue)
+- [Start a discussion](#start-a-discussion)
 - [Submit a pull request](#submit-a-pull-request)
-- [Issue Lifecycle](#issue-lifecycle)
+- [Issue lifecycle](#issue-lifecycle)
 - [Additional NGINX documentation](#additional-nginx-documentation)
 - [F5 Contributor License Agreement (CLA)](#f5-contributor-license-agreement)
 
-## Report a bug
+## Create an issue
+
+One way to contribute to the project is by [creating an issue](https://github.com/nginx/documentation/issues/new/choose).
+
+The two most common are enhancements and bug reports. When using the issue templates, they will be automatically labelled.
+
+- An enhancement is an improvement of some kind, such as a new document or additional detail for a product feature
+- A bug report draws attention to an issue in documentation, such as an incorrect command or outdated information
 
-To report a bug, open an issue on GitHub with the label `bug` using the
-available bug report issue template. Before reporting a bug, make sure the
-issue has not already been reported.
+Before creating an issue, please check there is [no existing issue](https://github.com/nginx/documentation/issues?q=is%3Aissue) for the topic.
 
-## Suggest a feature or enhancement
+We encourage discussions within issues, since they act as a source of contextual truth and are linked to pull requests.
 
-To suggest a feature or enhancement, open an issue on GitHub with the label
-`feature` or `enhancement` using the available feature request issue template.
-Please ensure the feature or enhancement has not already been suggested.
+## Start a discussion
 
-## Open a Discussion
+We encourage you to use [GitHub Discussions](https://github.com/nginx/documentation/discussions) for conversations with the community and maintainers.
 
-If you want to start a conversation with the community and maintainers,
-we encourage you to use
-[GitHub Discussions](https://github.com/nginx/documentation/discussions).
+If you'd like to discuss something NGINX-related that doesn't involve documentation, you should go to the [NGINX Community Forum](https://community.nginx.org/). 
 
 ## Submit a pull request
 
@@ -66,7 +64,6 @@ This repository does not include all of the source content for the NGINX documen
 - [NGINX Open Source](https://github.com/nginx/nginx) - source for [NGINX changelog](https://nginx.org/en/CHANGES)
 - [nginx.org](https://github.com/nginx/nginx.org) - source for https://nginx.org
 - [NGINX Unit](https://github.com/nginx/unit) - source for https://unit.nginx.org
-- [NGINX Ingress Controller](https://github.com/nginxinc/kubernetes-ingress/) - source for https://docs.nginx.com/nginx-ingress-controller
 
 In those repositories, you can find documentation source code in the `docs` or `site` subdirectories.
 

CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -4,33 +4,28 @@
 [![Contributor Covenant](https://img.shields.io/badge/Contributor%20Covenant-2.1-4baaaa.svg)](https://github.com/nginxinc/template-repository/main/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md)
 ![Commercial Support](https://badgen.net/badge/support/commercial/green?icon=awesome)
 
-<!-- These are the "repo [status badge](https://www.repostatus.org/)s" and the community support badges -->
-
 # NGINX documentation
 
+This repository contains the user documentation for NGINX's products, as well as the requirements to build and publish the documentation website.
+
+Documentation is written in [Markdown](https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/basics), then transformed into HTML using the [Hugo](https://gohugo.io/) static site generator.
+
 If you want to contribute to [F5 NGINX documentation](https://docs.nginx.com), you've come to the right place. We've organized a series of README-type files to help you get started:
 
 - [Contributing](/CONTRIBUTING.md) describes how you can contribute to our documentation.
-  - [Contributing guidelines for experts](/CONTRIBUTING_DOCS.md) describes how you can contribute (and check your work) with Hugo, our static site generator
 - [Code of Conduct](/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md) describes expectations in the NGINX open source community.
 - [License](/LICENSE) shows the license associated with work on this repository.
 - [Security](/SECURITY.md) describes the procedures we would like you to follow if you find a security issue.
 - [Support](/SUPPORT.md) lists how you can get support as a customer or a community member.
 
-## Explanation
-
-This repository contains user documentation for NGINX's products, as well as the requirements for linting, building, and publishing the documentation.
-
-Our documentation is written in Markdown, specifically the [Goldmark](https://github.com/yuin/goldmark) Markdown parser.
-We build our docs using [Hugo](https://gohugo.io) and host them in custom URLs on Azure.
+You may also find the [documentation folder](/documentation/) for the repository interesting: it's where we store our process information.
 
 ## License
 
 [BSD 2-Clause "Simplified" License](/LICENSE)
 
 &copy; [F5, Inc.](https://www.f5.com/) 2025
 
-
 ## Credits
 
 - [The Good Docs Project](https://www.thegooddocsproject.dev/), whose templates we've adapted for our use.