Why are the docs hidden? And not correct?
I'm a paying customer, and it takes me forever to find your docs. I go to look at your products page for things, and you have a bunch of fancy graphics and blurbs, and I have no idea how to find the real information I need about something.
I see a blurb on your pricing page about "free services". Well, I see nothing in your management console about them, so I figure, cool, maybe I can learn something new here. Click the link.
(actually, it's not on the Products page now, though I could have sworn I saw it there before. It was on the drop-down of the Products sub-menu at the top of the page. Links to here: https://www.linode.com/free-bundled-services/)
I see "Private networks with VLAN". Sounds interesting. Click the link. (https://www.linode.com/products/vlan/)
Giant "Create Account" and "Contact Sales" button and a blurb and graphic. Scroll down…
More blurbs and graphics, no links. Scroll down…
Links to datacenters. Still not what I want. Scroll down…
A description and .gif, more graphics, still no links. Scroll down…
"Guides and Resources". But none of them about the VLANs. Scroll down…
Another "Create Account" and "Contact Sales" button.
……
Where's the info about the VLANs?! How do I use them?
I end up googling for the info and find a link to your real docs from there.
Later on, I go back to this VPC page because… why are there no links to the docs here?!? But then I find out, at the very top of the page, in a tiny font below the "Create Account / Contact Sales" buttons, is (view product documentation).
Why the hell would you put that there?! Why not add some words to make it clear that "This is a link to the documentation of the VPC service" ? Why was it hiding below these buttons for creating an account and contacting sales? Why was the font tiny? Why not link to it from the two-dozen different images you have describing the actual VLAN service?
…. But it doesn't end there.
So I go through your VLAN docs, and I attempt to add a VLAN to my linode. Turns out the docs are wrong. They say:
"3.Within the Linode’s detail page, navigate to the Configurations tab."
"4. Select the Edit button next to the configuration profile you’d like to edit or click Add Configuration to create a new profile."
"5. Scroll down to the Network Interfaces section."
Only…. there is no Network Interfaces section. Not on a new configuration, not on my existing one. So after hunting around through your docs, and following a convoluted series of steps with no screenshots, they don't even work.
Are VPCs a figment of my imagination? Or do they actually exist? Could it be that there is a part of your management interface that lists VPCs (you know, like all the other cloud providers do?) and I just am not seeing it?
2 Replies
Do you feel better after that rant?
Are VPCs a figment of my imagination? Or do they actually exist?
What data centre are you in? VLANs haven’t be rolled out to all DCs yet.
The VLAN product page lists where they are available.
Where's the info about the VLANs?! How do I use them?
All Linode documentation is at linode.com/docs. The first section has more fancy graphics for you under “Product Guides”. There is one for VLAN.
Only…. there is no Network Interfaces section. Not on a new configuration, not on my existing one.
It looks like this happens if your Linode is in a facility that doesn't support VLANS. This should be mentioned in our VLANs doc, I'll pass this feedback onto our docs team.