Confluence is there a template like Atlassian Help/Documentation

[Kevin Black]

Apologies if this is simples (I did look through the community and the Documentation), but I'm having difficulty as a newbie and it's confusing.

Background:

I am using the cloud trial. When I try to access templates I see there are none. I read the documentation and see that I should have access to (global) blueprints from which I can create templates. The hierarchy being Blueprints -> Templates -> Pages (I assume). The help says to look at the '...' from the page header and select blueprints, but there is no option there for blueprints as in:

Create content using a blueprint

1. Choose Create from template   in the Confluence header
2. Select a blueprint from the create dialog
3. Hit Create

The editor will open, and, depending on the blueprint selected, a prompt to enter information or the page will appear. You can now follow the instructions built in to the blueprint to add content.

Obviously I'm missing something (I don't get this), but at least I see somethig when I create when I click the '+' I do see, I assume, Blueprints. And I guess I could modify those blueprints.

Question:

Is the Confluence Documentation by Atlassion (and in fact all Atlassian documentation) written using Confluence? If so, that is exactly the template I want/need with:

1. LHS - menu hierarchy
2. Middle - Content
3. RHS Box - On this Page

That would be perfect if there was a blueprint and / or template for that. So is there a template for that?

Again, apologies for the newbie question(s), but everyone has to start somewhere.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

The docs are almost entirely Confluence, but they use the Scroll Viewport add-on to change the look a bit.  It's worth a try if you need different views on to your docs.

That doesn't really answer your question about templates, but I am trying to say that you won't quite get an Atlassian style doc out of Confluence + Template.  The Viewport is modifying some of it (and I have a sneaky feeling there's some other tweaks in code as well, but I'm not sure).

Your templates should be able to do roughly what you need, but I can't pretend to be a layout expert (I think in orange-on-black, 40x25, not stunningly clever layouts, and then temper it with many years working with the visually impaired)

[Kevin Black]

Nic, 

Wow, with response times like that I'd hate to see the SLA you signed up to:)

The look is what we would like, it's logical, clean, consistent and simple. I'll have a look for the Scroll ViewPort Add on.

Again, many thanks for the (very) timely response.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Also, I forgot to pick up the last bit.

Templates can give your users a great guide to the layout you want them to use, freeing them up to actually get on and write content. 

You certainly should be able to knock up a template with the layout you describe.  It's pretty close to the layout I write most of my stuff in (when my colleagues haven't given me a better one, anyway) 

But I just wanted to say this site is based on Lithium, not Confluence.  (Confluence was used for the last incarnation, but it was struggling with the community for several reasons)

[Kevin Black]

Hi Nic,

I was a bit confused with the last bit of your answer, but I now see (Lithium for social interactions, ie. community).

In the first instance we just want to get the user manual, FAQ and Troubleshooting Guide into confluence. We are currently using a Word document converted to CHM. And whilst this is simples, it certainly isn't state of the art.

As noted, the Atlassian docs are simple, clean, logical so that's a template we'd like. I just thought if there was an off the shelf version might save time, but it looks straight forward.

Thanks for the clarification, we will look at interating with 'our' community later.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Yes, that last paragraph is not well-written, sorry.

One good thing about using Confluence is that you can separate out content and layout.  Imagine you have a block of text with a load of formatting (not horribly complex formatting that Word processors are capable of, but good enough to present to users for docs, including headings, text formats, pictures, and even simple sections of pages) and functions that help guide and inform (links, tables, automatic tables of content, etc).  This is what you want your users to see.

When you've got that in Confluence, there's a load of stuff surrounding it that gives you the layout - so the menus, the overall screen layout and so-on.  In the case of Atlassian documentation, they're using Scroll Viewport and a custom theme to simplify and do the overall layout.  This does not affect the content, other than making it fit.

I'd take a look at the themes you can get for Confluence Cloud  (General config -> themes in the system, and https://marketplace.atlassian.com/search?hosting=cloud&product=confluence&query=theme )

You can apply a theme to a space to try it out, and make it global (and still have some spaces with other themes).  This has zero effect on your actual content, because it's the framework around it.  It will affect how it is presented, but the underlying content is not touched.Personally, I usually reach for Refined Wiki themes first on Cloud, but that's just my taste, the others are well worth a look to see other options.

[Kevin Black]

Hi Nic,

Again, thanks for the excellent update/advice. Pardon my ignorance, but can you point me to these?

Personally, I usually reach for Refined Wiki themes first on Cloud, but that's just my taste, the others are well worth a look to see other options.

Are they part of the canned themes provided whe you create a new page or do you use a third party template?

Thanks.....

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

There's a link in my comment - it should lead you there.

[Kevin Black]

Saw the link, missed the significance.

Not wishing to conflate isssues, but I will (apologies) although it is similar theme (sic).

1. I created a global template following the Atlassian documentation (Add Global Page Template)
2. I then click Save and am returned to the Global Templates and Blueprints Page
3. I look under Global Page Templates
4. I see: There are no global templates at the moment
5. I repeat 1-3 and get the same result at 4, no Global Templates

Simple question (I know it will be noob simple/stupid): Where are/what happened to my Global Page Template(s)?

[Kevin Black]

Worked it out. If you have an image embedded on a template (page) and try tro save it:

1. Confluence behaves as if the page was saved
2. No page is saved (you lose everything)
3. No error message
4. Repeat, same result
5. Remove images and repeat
6. Template saved

This is very sloppy coding. An error occurs. Instead of saying 'STOP, if you continue your data will NOT be saved, remove any embedded images then save' the system just deletes your content and continues on (our graduate programmers would not code inj that manner). Rant mode off. Know what I was doing wrong, won't do it again.