Tips for creating impactful pages in Confluence
Think back to the last Confluence page that kept you engaged. What were some of the characteristics that stood out to you?
Aside from the quality of the material, it probably has a few or all of the following qualities: smart formatting, visual elements to break up text, and an easy-to-follow flow.
In this post, we'll walk you through some of our tips and tricks to create beautiful and impactful Confluence pages that allow your work to shine — 'cause let's face it, nobody wants to read a wall of text.
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#1: Make pages skimmable by utilizing headings and text formatting options
Starting with the basics, Confluence has a variety of heading and text formatting options to help structure your content to improve readability. Within the tool bar, you’ll see options for:
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Different heading options from H1s through to H6s
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Various text formats like bold, italics, underline, and others like
strikethroughsand code options -
Text color and highlight colors
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Bullets, and numbered lists, and checklists
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Text alignment
These may seem like basic options, but they help immensely to highlight important information so it doesn’t get lost in a sea of text.
Pro tip: keep your paragraphs short and use headings often to organize your content into smaller, more digestible sections.
#2: Explore different page structures with layouts and tables
Content doesn’t always have to read left to right, top to bottom! When you have lots of information to share on a page, it can help to explore various page layouts and content blocks to display information in a more visually appealing way.
Layouts
Layouts allow you to introduce structure to your pages by creating invisible boxes to contain content. To use Layouts, click on the two-box icon on the top tool bar to access your page layout options.
Clicking on it will insert a new content block in the editor where you can select different layout options, like number of columns and how you want them distributed. Content added here won’t show a border for a seamless look.
It’s that easy! Content added here won’t show a border for a seamless look. It works great for times where you want to display short snippets of information without taking too much space, like the example below.
Tables
Another way to incorporate structure to your pages it to use tables. Who says tables are just for numbers and data? Similar to Layouts, tables in Confluence helps you visually organize your content, but we find it to be more versatile in displaying a variety of information.
Once you insert your table, either through the top tool bar or by slash command /table, there are a variety of customizations available to transform your table. Here are some example ways to use tables:
Don’t want to start from scratch? Skip the hassle by starting with one of our pre-built templates!
#3: Take your page to the next level with emojis, elements and Smart Links
Add in that extra layer of pizzaz by leveraging emojis, eye-catching elements, and Smart Links.
Emojis
Sprinkle in emojis, available on the top tool bar, to bring personality to your content and express your ideas more creatively. They can be used anywhere in your text including in-line, headings, and even titles! Title emojis also have the added benefit of showing up in your space page tree, which helps to visually distinguish pages from one another.
Looking for a specific emoji? Add a custom one for added personalization.
Elements
Elements are editor features that bring an additional layer of functionality to your content. To explore the full list of elements, click the plus icon (+ ) at the top of your tool bar.
There are many different elements available, but here are a few of our favorites:
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Status: Add a customizable and colorful pill to your content to depict the status, such as In Progress, Blocked, Done, or even specific tags like departments or teams.
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Dates: Make key dates stand out by using the dates element. For a shortcut, type /date to quickly add this element from the slash command.
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Expand: Create collapsed sections that reveal more information for the people who seek it
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Info Panel: Highlight important information with an emoji and colored text box that draws the readers eye. There are five preset panel options — info, note, error, success, and warning, plus an option for a custom panel.
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Table of Contents: Generate a table of contents to guide your readers to important sections. This element will auto-create a table of contents using the headings on your page.
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Code Snippet: Format source code with numbered rows and syntax highlighting based on the language you choose — perfect for those in technical roles!
Smart Links
As the name suggests, Smart Links are….smart. Paste any link into your Confluence page and watch it automagically transform into a hyperlink with style. Instead of a rather unsightly url string, Smart Links will auto-detect the source logo of the page and grab the title of the linked content to display it in a pill-style link that “pops” on the page.
But wait, there’s more! For certain links, such as links from other Atlassian tools or select 3P tools, Smart Links offer additional display options: card view and embeds.
The card view provides richer detail displayed in a larger card format. Some Smart Links for tools like Dropbox will show additional options like Download and Previews.
And finally, Smart Links embeds is exactly as it suggests: a full embed of the contents from the pasted link. Read and edit a Google Drive document, manipulate your Figma file and more — all within a Confluence page with Smart Links embeds.
#4: Add a page summary and a Loom video walkthrough as your final touches
You’re in the home stretch now! Our final tip to bring your Confluence pages from a snooze-fest 😴 to a showstopper 🤩 is to go the extra mile for your readers by adding a TL;DR page summary & a Loom video walkthrough to ensure your audience is walking away with all of the key information.
Page summary
Using the Info Panel element we discussed earlier, add in a TL;DR summary at the top of your page to communicate the most important takeaways to your readers who may not have the time to read through your page in detail. Trust us, your stakeholders will thank you.
Write your own, or lean on Atlassian Intelligence to summarize for you 🦾
Loom video walkthrough
For especially big ideas and complex strategies, consider adding a Loom video walkthrough to your page to ensure you’re communicating all of the important details and context to your audience.
Recording a Loom video message lets you communicate naturally, with emotion and nuance that written documentation can lack. Your readers will surely appreciate the personal touch of a Loom wallkthrough to guide them through the content they’re viewing. Bonus: you may even save yourself a meeting this way!
To record a Loom video, click on the Record icon on the left of the top tool bar. Here are some tips on how to use Confluence and Loom together.
And that’s a wrap! We hope you enjoyed these best practices to take your Confluence pages to the next level.
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Ellie Kulick
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