Atlassian Confluence
Introduction
Atlassian Confluence is an "enterprise" wiki.
Notice: I created this page because I need to know how the LAMS wiki works in order to help with software localization. At some point, contents may be made more generic - Daniel K. Schneider 11:20, 25 February 2010 (UTC)
Structure of a confluence wiki
Confluence is organised in spaces (i.e. some kind of sub-wikis) Each space contains a hierarchically organised set of pages. Links between pages are possible.
Pages are the primary means of storing and sharing information in Confluence. Pages are contained within spaces.
- Use spaces to organise your wiki content into your primary logical groups. For example, you could have a space per team, per product or per department.
- Use pages to organise your content into lower-level groups. For example, you could have a page for a particular team activity, or for a feature in a product, or for a chapter in a book. Then add more child pages to contain lower-level details if necessary. (Working with Pages Overview, retrieved 11:20, 25 February 2010 (UTC)).
Users can be allowed to create personal spaces. In the people directory, one can list all users or users that just have personal spaces.
“Each space in Confluence can publish its own blog posts. Blog posts may be announcements, journal entries, status reports or any other timely information you would categorise as 'blogs' pertaining to a space.” (Working with Blog Posts Overview, retrieved 11:20, 25 February 2010 (UTC)).
Top left:
- Hierarchial navigation menu:
Dashboard > Space > Page > Subpage > ...
Top right:
- User menu and search
- Add page and Add Blog Post
Footer:
- List of subpages ("children")
- List of labels ("tags")
Footer (optional):
- Browse Space (allows to see various elements of a space)
The Dashboard
“The Dashboard is the front page of a Confluence site. It provides an overview of the site, access to all spaces to which you have 'view' permission, and displays a list of the most recently updated content within them.” (Dashboard, retrieved 11:20, 25 February 2010 (UTC)).
The Dashboard includes:
- The usual page header (see above)
- Left column:
- A list of all the viewable spaces or private space
- At the bottom: Create space (for those who can), Feed builder, people directory.
- Right column:
- Recently updated pages (from all spaces)
- Favorite pages
Typical page structure
.....
Page editing
Confluence page can be edited either through a Wysiwyg editor or with Wiki markup.
Page creation
- Page creation
By default, Confluence will add the page as a child of the page you are viewing !
There are two methods:
- Add Page (top right) will add a page to the current space
- Creating an undefined Link (the traditional wiki way)
[Link to new page] (single brackets)
- Space creation
- To create a new personal space (permission is needed): In the User menu (pull-down menu with your name): Create Personal Space
- Moving pages in the hierarchy
- A page can be moved in a hierarchy by editing its Location.
Editing page structure
Markup
Wiki Markup Syntax
Confluence Wiki Markup is complex. Parts of the language is based on textile
Layout
See
- Design and Layout
- Customising Look and Feel
- Customising Layouts for a Space (can only be done by system admins for now)
Templates
“A template is a pre-defined page that can be used as a prototype when creating new pages. Templates are useful for giving pages a common style or format.”
Regular templates
Forms template writing
Links
- Official
- Atlassian Confluence home page
- Documentation Home
- Confluence User's Guide
- Full Notation Guide (Wiki markup)
- Examples
- LAMS 2 User Documentation (see the LAMS learning design system).