[PaulRobinson]

The antithesis of a good landing page.

I'd never heard of it before. What does Apache Guacamole actually do? Is it of interest to me? I click...

Nothing on the home page immediately tells me. I note HTML5 and there is something going on with a client and I guess a server? I scroll down the page. Literally, nothing telling me how Guacamole might be of interest to me, but I notice a mention to RDP - hmmm, that might be a clue, but it might not be.

I go up to docs. FAQ? OK, that might help. I click. Nope. Nothing. I scroll through the first five or six questions and I'm none the wiser.

I go back to the docs and notice the user manual. Surely that must tell me? I click.

Right, which section might tell me? Introduction? I click.

Several paragraphs in:

> Guacamole is an HTML5 web application that provides access to desktop environments using remote desktop protocols (such as VNC or RDP). Guacamole is also the project that produces this web application, and provides an API that drives it. This API can be used to power other similar applications or services.

I realise F/LOSS might not feel the need to "market" itself like it were a business, but is it too much to ask that the first thing we see on the home page is a brief description of what the project is, and some of the benefits so a curious chap can decide if it's of interest?

[pmontra]

The post links to the 1.1.0 release https://guacamole.apache.org/releases/1.1.0/

IMHO this is not an intended landing page for the project. I touched the title and got to the home page which explains pretty well what the project is about

http://guacamole.apache.org/

Maybe they should add an explicit Home link.

[kgraves]

Uh, go to the home page?

> "Apache Guacamole is a clientless remote desktop gateway [RDP]. It supports standard protocols like VNC, RDP, and SSH."

> "We call it clientless because no plugins or client software are required."

> "Thanks to HTML5, once Guacamole is installed on a server, all you need to access your desktops is a web browser."

The link you have clicked on is the release page, you could just gone to the home page ("click the title") to see what this was all about.

Bonus: There's even a video on the home page, I played the video and I instantly know what the software is.

Most open source software homepages don't provide that level of context, just walls of text.

[calcifer]

> is it too much to ask that the first thing we see on the home page is a brief description of what the project is, and some of the benefits so a curious chap can decide if it's of interest?

It's not too much to ask, especially if you actually look at the home page and not the release notes that's clearly linked here.

[Double_a_92]

The home page itself also doesn't really explain what it is... unless you already know.

All I got is that it's some remote desktop client that runs in the browser. Then I had to assume that the server probably needs to be in the same network as your target computer... And theres some extra login to the client itself?

And then I noticed that that image is actually a video. ._.

[laumars]

What browser are you using?

The video has a standard play button on desktop Firefox. In fact it is very clearly an embedded Vimeo video (branded and all).

Also your server assumption is very clearly stated right next to the video:

> Thanks to HTML5, once Guacamole is installed on a server, all you need to access your desktops is a web browser.

This is all in the top half of the landing page and even highlighted in green to stand out from the rest of the page.

I agree many FOSS projects have lousy landing pages but I've always though this one to be one of the better ones. In fact it is better than many commercial landing pages I've had the misfortune to, ahem, land on.

[ergo14]

The link on HN is not a landing page.

https://guacamole.apache.org/ - this is and it is very self explanatory to me.

`Apache Guacamole is a clientless remote desktop gateway. It supports standard protocols like VNC, RDP, and SSH.`

[lars_francke]

Do you have an example of what they could have written? I agree with you that lots (mostly the corporate and startup) of homepages aren't good in describing the product but this seems like a relatively okay summary to me:

"Apache Guacamole is a clientless remote desktop gateway. It supports standard protocols like VNC, RDP, and SSH.[...]

Thanks to HTML5, once Guacamole is installed on a server, all you need to access your desktops is a web browser."

It's a tool you install on your machine and then you can access said machine via a web browser, no?

[ciroduran]

I had the same thoughts when clicking this document. It seems more like a release page than a landing page. But I think the lesson is that documentation is tricky to write because there are many ways to use it, for both novice and advanced users. I've checked Django, Drupal and Python release notes and they're aren't any more specific, although the website navigation makes it clear how to reach the home page.

[gexla]

It's a release page. If ever in doubt of where you are, look at the URL.

Guacamole is quite well known in the Linux world.

Release page being linked is appropriate given the title.

[agumonkey]

was about to complain but then I realized it's just a release note page

that said a tiny [remove desktop] tag in the title would have eased the process

[nannal]

Does this not cover it?

From the front page

https://i.imgur.com/ZOyoNQ6.png