I have an immediate complete distrust to anything that throws around so many buzzwords. This is the github page and I still don't understand what it even does, specifically.
replies(2):
Literally every single word of it
Thus, those people coming across your project may quickly overlook it instead of giving it a chance which is disappointing.
By contrast, here is Tailscales tagline: "Fast, seamless device connectivity — no hardware, no firewall rules, no wasted time."
That kind of tells even a non-technical user what it is for even if it dumbs down all it can do. That user then doesn't need to know any technical jargon or how it works under the hood or even what wireguard is at all. The tagline is what prompts them to install and try it out and from there the UX is the deciding factor in whether they keep using it or not.
I understand it may not be easy to narrow down the explanation, especially if you invested a lot of time and don't want to do a disservice to yourself by underselling it. Looking at the Tailscale tagline I quoted, it is small and ambiguous enough that it works marketing wise, regardless of all the features and solutions they offer. But it was just an example, I should maybe have used a totally different example of a product that is not in the same realm as yours.
The explanation you gave to me here is good but only because I vaguely know what all this jargon means. Try to think of a short simple sentence that a non-expert could understand.
I like where you are going with the graphics in the readme; I'd spend some effort on creating "intended usecase" scenarios, scenarios that highlight situations where the project is the perfect fit. Using a few of these to highlight very different applications give people a good mental map of where this project would fit well for them.
"John is looking for a way to provide access to an internal tool to work-from-home colleagues. This isn't simple to do because [...]. Octelium is a good fit because [...]. Here is how John would set it up: [...]"
I share some (very little) from some of the criticism regarding the clarity, but I disagree you need a tagine like Tailscale while your solution does several times more things.
Great product, im chewing through the docs already :)