Deprecation of the Panel macro
Asked by edward.thompson:

I was hoping to use the panel macro to provide different background colors to sections of my page. I see it was deprecated in favor of the info panel. I am curious as to why, but what I am really asking is

How can I provide background colors to 'sections' of my page without hardcoded icons and default expectations. For example, use orange without it being a warning?


Answers:
author: Diego
body: Hello there!

Thanks for reaching out here in the Community, [@edward.thompson](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/3850679) . You can check more about why macros have been deprecated recently. Most of them have to do with performance or making the editor simpler. You can check more details here:
> * ***[\[Confluence Cloud\] We're cleaning up our macros](https://confluence.atlassian.com/confcloud/we-re-cleaning-up-our-macros-946028471.html)***

I can see that the new Info Panels bring a different message each. And also how confusing it can be for user who see one them out of context, used simply for coloring.

With this in mind, I can offer you two ways out of this. The first one involves the usage of our Legacy Editor. All customers should have access to it still. If you do not, you can request it, as specified here:
> * [***\[Atlassian Community\] Change to your content is in your hands***](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Confluence-Cloud-articles/Change-to-your-content-is-in-your-hands/ba-p/1324476)

While using the Legacy Editor we are still able to use the Panel Macro. Even though the Macro documentation tells us that it is going to be deprecated:
> ![Screen Shot 2020-04-14 at 17.42.02.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/90397i8BBAD0BD6730E06D/image-dimensions/534x108?v=v2 "Screen Shot 2020-04-14 at 17.42.02.png")
>
> * ***[\[Confluence Cloud\] Panel Macro (Available only for the Legacy Editor)](https://confluence.atlassian.com/confcloud/panel-macro-724765265.html)***

The second option requires us to use Tables and cell coloring. In the new editor we still have the possibility of adding colors to a cell background. Under normal conditions, you should be able to create a visual pretty similar to what could be achieve with the panel macro:
> ![Screen Shot 2020-04-14 at 17.21.58.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/90398i61D30E5B6A23E85E/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Screen Shot 2020-04-14 at 17.21.58.png")
>
> **Mimicking a panel:**
>
> ![Screen Shot 2020-04-14 at 17.46.37.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/90399iB132170DFEE7DB02/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Screen Shot 2020-04-14 at 17.46.37.png")
>
I would say that the second option is easy to use and should yield pretty satisfactory results if the objective is to mimic a Panel Macro!

I hope this helps you out! Looking forward to your reply.

comments: author: Patrick
body: I have been using JIRA / Confluence / Bitbucket for years and I love these tools. We've recently converted to Cloud, and unfortunately it appears that Confluence has taken some big steps backward in functionality.

Like OP we also used the panel macros for formatting and to bring clarity to the docs.

They weren't simply used for "coloring". Warnings (yellow) would be used to highlight an important info, Error (red) would be used to highlight a dangerous point. Green/Answer, etc. Very common color associations.

It also provides visual breaks between sections that are not as easy to see when the background is all white.

I am also very frustrated by the removal of the ability to add a panel macro inside another panel. Having a warning panel inside a info panel doesn't seem like that unusual of a situation.

The suggestion to use the legacy editor is not a realistic suggestion. There are warnings all over the confluence documentation that the legacy editor and its macros are being deprecated.

Finally, being told to use tables to mimic the panel behavior is disappointing. Very 1999.

It would be very useful if a generic panel macro was available, giving control of the background color, icon, display of the icon, etc.


author: Matt Corr
body: Using coloured tables to mimic Panels inside an area of the document with a section does not work.

I think all they need is just the option for a customisable panel. Have the new info, warn, tip, note, error ones that are currently utilised. But give us the option to create just a box with a selectable colour.


Tags: cloud

image

macro

panel