Skip to main content

How to Use Custom Styles and Themes in Confluence

Picture this: it was a rainy Tuesday afternoon, the kind where the clouds are as thick as a poorly made pancake, and I found myself in a state of despair. Our team's Confluence page looked like something out of the early internet days—drab, colorless, and utterly uninspiring. Dan, my colleague who's got a flair for the dramatic, swiveled in his chair and declared, "Surely, there must be more to Confluence!" And indeed, there was. This was the day we embarked on our joyous quest to transform those pages into vibrant canvases that would no longer make our eyes glaze over by lunchtime.

Discovering the Power of Custom Styles​

As we began to experiment, we learned that the first step in customizing Confluence styles was to tap into a little feature called Custom Stylesheets. Mind you, it isn't straightforward, and Atlassian hasn't exactly shouted it from the rooftops—but that's what made it a delight to uncover, like finding a forgotten cookie in your coat pocket. Here's how we unraveled the mystery:

  1. Access Confluence Administration: Start from the ground up. You’ll need site admin privileges—if you’re the lucky one, or know the person who’s got it, you can proceed. Head over to the gear icon in the upper right corner and select "General Configuration."

  2. Customize Stylesheet: Buried in the options, you’ll find "Look and Feel"—click it. This is where the magic happens. Select "Custom Stylesheet" from the sidebar. Now, you’re greeted with a blank slate. Bring forth the styles you want by pasting your CSS.

  3. Trial and Error: Ah, trial and error, the old-fashioned way of learning. Enter your CSS—they don’t make themselves, after all—and preview changes. Play around with colors, fonts, and layouts. It can be as formal as a suit or as casual as flip-flops on a summer day.

Crafting Themes with Personal Flair​

Now that we had styles, the idea of themes dawned upon us. Themed pages can turn your documents into storybooks. Dan, who pretends he’s in a noir film most days, pounced on this chance to add mood lighting to our wiki.

  1. Install Custom Theme Add-ons: First stop, the Atlassian Marketplace. There are add-ons like "Refined" or "Scroll Viewport" that let you create and apply themes. Yes, they come with a price tag, but consider it the cost of leaving monotony behind.

  2. Experiment with Layouts and Gadgets: We played—added headers here, threw in footers there. Gadgets are your embellishments, adding dynamic content. Suddenly, our pages weren't just pages; they were living, breathing entities.

  3. Brand with Purpose: Infuse elements of your brand, project, or team ethos—turn those pages into an extension of your collective psyche. And if you manage to sneak in some inside jokes or nods to team culture, that's a bonus.

Reflect and Revel​

Reflecting on our transformation journey, Dan and I realized it was more than just aesthetics; it was about creating a space that felt like ours. A collaborative environment should, after all, inspire collaboration, not drive people to siestas at noon. Our Confluence now reflected who we were as a team—vibrant, a little quirky, and always up for a challenge.

As we leaned back and admired our newfound creation, the rain outside seemed less imposing, like it too had taken a step back to revel in our achievement. So, dear readers, as you enter this world of custom styles and themes in Confluence, remember—your pages are your domain, and your creativity is the limit. Don your imaginary raincoats, trek through the storms of technical hiccups, and emerge on the other side with pages that resonate with you. And maybe, just maybe, you’ll find a little of that forgotten cookie joy as Dan and I did.