Confluence for documentation

Question

Our team relies heavily on Confluence for documentation, but most pages feel dry and unengaging.

We want to make our pages more visually appealing so that team members actually use them instead of asking the same questions over and over again.

How can we improve this?

Tinker Fadoua · Accepted Answer

Hi @Peter

Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

There are couple of videos on YouTube to help users design some appealing Confluence pages.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Create+appealing+Confluence+pages+

Let me know if you have any questions.

Best of luck!

Fadoua

Kristian Klima_gtcuat · Accepted Answer

Hi @Peter

You have almost too many options :)

* explore built-in Confluence macros - info boxes, expand macro, screenshots...
* look at 'skins' also known as theme apps - some are oriented more towards intranet users (Aura, Mantra...) some gear towards documentation (Spacecraft, Refined).
* Full fledged documentation portal apps - such as Instant Website or Scroll Viewport. Viewport, for example, is not just for visuals, it can massively expand your docs options (with the help of other Scroll apps) - versioning, conditional content variants, localization, you can choose which sections of a space you wanna turn into documentation etc.

For example, this our Documentation Center built in Scroll Viewport:  https://docs.emplifi.io/

You choice will also depend on other requirements.

* Do you want your documentation to be on your own domain?
* Do you want anonymous users to access your documentation? And if so, does your policy allow making Confluence spaces open to anonymous access? 
* Another thing to consider - do you want BOTH the public portal and the customers-only portal? For example, Viewport and Instant Websites both support controlling access to your documentation with your SSO. In other words, your docs will remain private, customers-only, without the need to give your customers paid Confluence seats.

I'm not linking to the marketplace apps because it'd be too many links here.

Sahir Maharaj_28wu8p · Accepted Answer

Hi @Peter

Great question. I’ve seen Confluence turn into an information black hole if it’s not structured properly.

What worked for me was setting up a clear hierarchy based on how teams actually work. I created separate spaces for different departments (like Engineering, Product,etc…) and then used consistent page structures within each space (I usually start with broad topics and drilling down into specifics)

Also, I recommend you to explore using templates. Its super useful to ensures that every page follows a standard format, making it easier to navigate. @Kristian Klima and @Tinker Fadoua have shared some excellent resources :)

I also use the Page Tree macro to create dynamic navigation so people don’t have to dig through unrelated pages.

Finally, my team set up quarterly content reviews, where we check and update key documents to keep everything relevant.

When Confluence is structured right, it becomes an asset instead of a headache.

Currently for us, it makes it so easy for new team members to onboard and for existing teams to find what they need without wasting time.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Laurie Sciutti · Accepted Answer

Hi @Peter and welcome to the Community!  In addition to the information provided by the other responses here, I definitely recommend incorporating labels and "index" pages which utilize Content by Label macros to help organize space pages / info.  Definitely helps to cut down on the "noise".  I've also found that you reorder pages and move them out of navigation view and as long as you have those index pages, users can still access that content easily.  We also use an add-on Brikit Theme Press which allows you to really get into the weeds and design your spaces for more engaging content.  Doesn't look like it's available for Cloud but you can find others in the Marketplace.  And don't forget about the pre-done templates ~ those help as well.  Good luck!