Looking for someone with CSS Stylesheet macro licensed
Asked by Patrick O_Connell:

Hello,

Only in my second week of work at a new employer, and using it here is my first time using Confluence. Our version is 6.9.0. I *think* that we host our own server, i.e., we're not using the cloud product.

I'm a technical writer, so a bit frustrated with the (whee!) eight whole text styles available. Also, there's no consistent style of documentation here; it's mostly been created by engineers. Ergo, I want to have an actual stylesheet.

We don't have the CSS Stylesheet macro, and I've asked my supervisor to see about pricing. IF that's not a showstopper, I'm looking for someone who has this installed.

Does it add your CSS-defined styles to the text-styles drop-down? If not, how do you use the styles specified in the CSS?

Screenshots would be good. A short screen-sharing session would be fantastic, if both of our employers are OK with that.

Thank you,

Pat O'Connell  
Montreal


Answers:
author: Bill Bailey
body: If you are on the server version (which you can tell by scrolling to the bottom of the page and reading the version number), you don't need a plug in. You can modify the CSS stylesheet at both the space and global levels (see [styling-confluence-with-css](https://confluence.atlassian.com/conf62/styling-confluence-with-css-902074905.html)). Your adnin should be able to help you by giving you space admin rights, or installing a stylesheet at the global level.

On the number of styles, that is restricted by the editor (derived from TinyMCE), and is typical with web-based editors. You can then user other macros (such as the code macro) for code blocks, or by writing user macros (for example, styling nice table and figure titles).

I am also a tech writer and I understand the desire for more styles, but you can work around it. I do love the fact that I can control the text styling via CSS, preventing authors from each developing their own style. I created custom styles to give our documentation branding.

While I love FrameMaker, I am a huge convert to Confluence for documentation as it greatly improves collaboration and productivity, allowing an organization to get docs out faster.

FYI, although I am on an older version, you can see some examples of what you can do as far as a look and feel within Confluence [Documentation+Example](http://confluence.marketcomllc.com/display/PUBLIC/Documentation+Example)

comments: author: Patrick O_Connell
body: Hi Bill,

Thank you for your reply. As to the own-server or cloud version, what's at the bottom of any page is this, which I find inconclusive:

![page_bottom_snap_for_bill_bailey_confluence_rofums.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/36345i4962C21DA18E0DF7/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "page_bottom_snap_for_bill_bailey_confluence_rofums.png")

*You can modify the CSS stylesheet at both the space and global levels (see [styling-confluence-with-css](https://confluence.atlassian.com/conf62/styling-confluence-with-css-902074905.html?_ga=2.169985888.1149323314.1540906719-1687809977.1539635187)). Your adnin should be able to help you by giving you space admin rights, or installing a stylesheet at the global level.*

Yeah, I'm reluctant to request high-level access, given that this is only my 3rd week here. I I have pinged my manager about licensing that CSS Stylesheet plugin. My employer moves a lot more quickly than many, in many ways, but he has already said that getting approval for plugins can be a painful process.

*...or by writing user macros (for example, styling nice table and figure* titles).

Now, it's not clear to me how you just create your own macros, and even if I have that ability... Our UX designer and I had a sit-down where we tried to use markup to just specify an inline CSS style. It didn't work. Atlassian's position seems to be that if you want to take the grease-monkey approach and go under the hood with markup to do ***x,*** you have to have bought the component that gives you the more user-friendly way of accessing ***x.***

They could change their name to License To Print Money, Inc. Or maybe The Electronic Arts of Collaboration Software---you'll understand that one if you're a gamer.

FrameMaker - wow. Last exposure was mid-90's and it *just* been ported from Unix to Windows. It was obviously powerful, but not that user-friendly. I do wonder how it has changed.

Thank you for the links - both are interesting.

Cheers,  
Pat O'Connell


author: Bill Bailey
body: You just need some extra rights to be able to modify the stylesheet at the space level. It is a fairly straightforward process. You just need to know the classes - basically all page content is a child to the class: wiki-content.

If you are concerned about *messing up* something, have them set up a test space and give you access there (you have a personal space, but I am not sure what all the features there are). Then you can do whatever you want to, and it can be deleted later.

Or, set up you own personal Confluence server ($10 license) to really play with it. You can install the same version as your company is running. It is a great way to learn about Confluence.

P.S. FrameMaker is still very powerful, but you don't need the same skillset to format documents and you do to create templates -- but there is a steep learning curve. However, it is still the gold standard for formatting documentation, IMHO.


Tags: confluence-server

css

macro

server