Confluence 4.0 : Using Templates and Formatting Macros in a Knowledge Base
This page last changed on Jan 23, 2011 by jlargman.
This page is part of the guide to developing a knowledge base on Confluence Wiki. We have already shown you how to create your knowledge base space. Now we offer an introduction to the templates that Confluence provides.
Space Information DesignOne question that comes up is whether a knowledge base should be implemented as a decision matrix, with a multi-select or other list. We knew that most of our users visit our documentation directly from search engines. Early on, we learned that at least for us, Google Analytics was showing that most traffic was coming from search engines, not from within our site. See Metrics for a discussion on that. So, we knew to focus on optimising page titles and tags rather than focus on a decision matrix. Confluence's Built-in Feature SetPage TemplatesConfluence's Page Templates are an easy place to start. Begin by choosing how you want your templates to look. Here's how we made our page template: h3. Symptoms FILL IN SYMPTOMS HERE h3. Cause FILL IN CAUSE HERE h3. Resolution FILL IN RESOLUTION HERE {htmlcomment} ENTER SUPPORT TICKET LINKS {htmlcomment}
You might consider the scaffolding plugin or Form Field Markup for filling out forms. Our support engineers are quite used to using wiki markup (we live and breathe Confluence!), so we left this template as is. Construct a Home Page: Section, Panels, RSS, and NotificationsCheck out the Confluence Knowledge Base Home. The colored content in the middle of the page is an amalgamation of panel, rss and attahment macros. Go to
The wiki markup there is a little confusing, but it breaks down like this:
Exporting PagesThese are built-in Confluence features. Check Page Exports. You can learn how to customise the PDF export as well. Content MacrosBesides the ones listed above, some favourite macros for formatting content around the site are the Tip, Info, Warning, and Note Macros, ad the Code macro. They make things look great. We also use Adaptavist's Content Formatting Macros when we really want to bring our A-game.
JIRA Issues MacroUsing JIRA for bug tracking? You can't expect your users to necessarily have exactly the right JQL filters to show the appropriate topics. We have some nice JIRA Issues Macros on display. One of my favourites is in the JIRA KB's Causes for OutOfMemory Errors: {jiraissues:url=http://jira.atlassian.com/sr/jira.issueviews:searchrequest-xml/temp/SearchRequest.xml?jqlQuery=project+%3D+JRA+AND+issuetype+in+%28Bug%2C+Improvement%2C+subTaskIssueTypes%28%29%29+AND+component+%3D+%22Performance+-+Memory+leaks%22+ORDER+BY+key+DESC&tempMax=200|columns=fixversion;summary;status;key|anonymous=true} Notice the JQL there including components and sorting, plus the specific columns. LabelsSometimes, an article needs to be cross listed. For that we label our articles. Some great macros to use for this are {contentbylabel}, {listlabels} and the {dynamiccontentbylabels} macro in the Content Survey Plugin. Next StepsYou now have a good idea of how Confluence templates work. What next? Take a look at Proactive Communications in a Knowledge Base. |
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Document generated by Confluence on Sep 19, 2011 02:37 |