feat(webapp): strengthen public landing experience

Author: FelixTJDietrich

.changeset/calm-mentors-welcome.md

@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"hephaestus": patch
+---
+
+Clarifies how practice feedback and Heph support learning from project work, and identifies the project's Applied Education Technologies and TUM origins.

README.md

@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
   </picture>
 
   <h1>Hephaestus</h1>
-  <p><strong>Feedback on how you work</strong></p>
+  <p><strong>Learn from the work you're already doing</strong></p>
 
   <p>
     <a href="https://hephaestus.aet.cit.tum.de"><img alt="Open the TUM-operated Hephaestus web app" src="https://img.shields.io/badge/web_app-open-493C83"></a>
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
   </p>
 </div>
 
-Hephaestus gives developers feedback on the engineering practices they use in software projects. It draws on evidence from tools the team already uses — including GitHub or GitLab activity, selected Slack channels, and Outline documents — to explain what worked, what could improve, and what to try next.
+Hephaestus uses AI to give developers feedback on engineering practices in their project work. Feedback points to the work that prompted it and explains what worked, what could improve, and what to try next. Developers can discuss it with Heph, Hephaestus's conversational AI mentor.
 
 <div align="center">
   <picture>
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ Hephaestus gives developers feedback on the engineering practices they use in so
   <p><sub>One example of practice feedback and a follow-up with Heph.</sub></p>
 </div>
 
-Hephaestus is built for software engineering courses, open-source projects, and teams where mentors and maintainers cannot review every contribution themselves.
+Hephaestus is built for software engineering courses, open-source projects, and teams that want more consistent opportunities to learn from day-to-day contributions.
 
 ## What Hephaestus does
 
@@ -58,12 +58,16 @@ The loop starts with a developer's project work and the context around it. Hepha
   <img alt="Hephaestus feedback loop: project work and context are reviewed against workspace practices; practice feedback explains what worked, what could improve, and what to try next; it can appear alongside the work or in conversation with Heph; the developer decides whether to use, question, or skip it before their next piece of project work." src="./docs/images/readme/feedback-loop-light.png" width="1224">
 </picture>
 
-Developers decide what helps: use the feedback, question it, or skip it. The cycle continues with their next piece of project work. Hephaestus supports mentors, teachers, and maintainers by covering routine feedback. It does not replace their judgement or the relationships they build with developers.
+Developers decide how to use the feedback and can discuss it with Heph. The cycle continues with their next piece of project work. Hephaestus extends the attention available from mentors and maintainers while developers retain responsibility for their decisions.
+
+## Project origins
+
+Hephaestus is an [MIT-licensed](./LICENSE) open-source project developed by [Applied Education Technologies](https://aet.cit.tum.de/) at the [Technical University of Munich](https://www.tum.de/en/).
 
 ## Project status
 
 > [!IMPORTANT]
-> **Hephaestus is still pre-1.0.** Until 1.0, a minor release can change configuration or APIs in ways that require action. If you self-host it, use the [latest release](https://github.com/ls1intum/Hephaestus/releases/latest), read its release notes and the [migration guide](./MIGRATION.md), and test upgrades in staging.
+> If you self-host Hephaestus, use the [latest release](https://github.com/ls1intum/Hephaestus/releases/latest), read its release notes and the [migration guide](./MIGRATION.md), and test upgrades in staging.
 >
 > We are aiming for a stable **v1.0.0 in mid-September 2026**. Here, stable means [predictable rules](./docs/admin/compatibility-policy.mdx) for upgrades, configuration, Docker Compose, and the REST API — not that development stops.
 >

docs/docusaurus.config.ts

@@ -2,21 +2,15 @@ import {themes as prismThemes} from 'prism-react-renderer';
 import type {Config} from '@docusaurus/types';
 import type * as Preset from '@docusaurus/preset-classic';
 
-// This runs in Node.js - Don't use client-side code here (browser APIs, JSX...)
-
 const envBaseUrl = process.env.DOCUSAURUS_BASE_URL;
 
 const config: Config = {
   title: 'Hephaestus Documentation',
-  tagline: 'Feedback on how you work',
+  tagline: "Learn from the work you're already doing",
   favicon: 'img/favicon.ico',
 
-  // Future flags and performance optimizations
-  // See https://docusaurus.io/docs/api/docusaurus-config#future
   future: {
     v4: true,
-    // Docusaurus Faster: Uses Rspack, SWC, and LightningCSS for 2-4x faster builds
-    // https://docusaurus.io/blog/releases/3.6#docusaurus-faster
     faster: {
       swcJsLoader: true,
       swcJsMinimizer: true,
@@ -39,9 +33,6 @@ const config: Config = {
   onDuplicateRoutes: 'throw',
   trailingSlash: false,
 
-  // Even if you don't use internationalization, you can use this field to set
-  // useful metadata like html lang. For example, if your site is Chinese, you
-  // may want to replace "en" with "zh-Hans".
   i18n: {
     defaultLocale: 'en',
     locales: ['en'],
@@ -71,15 +62,12 @@ const config: Config = {
         theme: {
           customCss: './src/css/custom.css',
         },
-        // Sitemap generation with lastmod for SEO
         sitemap: {
           lastmod: 'datetime',
           changefreq: 'weekly',
           priority: 0.5,
           filename: 'sitemap.xml',
         },
-        // Google Tag Manager can be configured here if needed
-        // gtag: { trackingID: 'G-XXXXXXXXXX' },
       } satisfies Preset.Options,
     ],
   ],
@@ -152,7 +140,7 @@ const config: Config = {
       {
         name: 'description',
         content:
-          'Hephaestus gives developers practice feedback on software project work, plus an AI mentor for talking through feedback and next steps.',
+          'Hephaestus gives developers practice feedback on software project work and lets them discuss it with Heph, its conversational AI mentor.',
       },
       {name: 'keywords', content: 'Hephaestus, AI mentor, code review feedback, software engineering practices, TUM'},
       {name: 'twitter:card', content: 'summary_large_image'},
@@ -161,7 +149,7 @@ const config: Config = {
       {
         name: 'twitter:description',
         content:
-          'Hephaestus gives developers practice feedback on software project work, plus an AI mentor for talking through feedback and next steps.',
+          'Hephaestus gives developers practice feedback on software project work and lets them discuss it with Heph, its conversational AI mentor.',
       },
     ],
     navbar: {
@@ -252,7 +240,7 @@ const config: Config = {
           ],
         },
         {
-          title: 'Community',
+          title: 'Project',
           items: [
             {
               label: 'Applied Education Technologies',
@@ -265,15 +253,14 @@ const config: Config = {
           ],
         },
       ],
-      copyright: `© ${new Date().getFullYear()} Technical University of Munich · Built with ❤️ by the Hephaestus Team at Applied Education Technologies (AET)`,
+      copyright: `Hephaestus is an MIT-licensed open-source project developed by Applied Education Technologies at the Technical University of Munich.`,
     },
     docs: {
       sidebar: {
         hideable: true,
         autoCollapseCategories: true,
       },
     },
-    // Table of contents configuration
     tableOfContents: {
       minHeadingLevel: 2,
       maxHeadingLevel: 4,