Last updated Dec 13, 2024

Theme

Theming lets you change the look and feel of Confluence. Your theme can change styling for all spaces on a Confluence site, or be applied on a space-by-space basis. You can also choose to affect certain aspects within a space, like the space home page, other pages and blog posts, and the Confluence header.

Themes aren't just for show, though --- they can help emphasize parts of the UI, and guide and influence user behavior in Confluence. When you're designing a theme for commercial use, it's a good idea to define its purpose and understand how you'd like users to experience it.

Create an empty Connect theme

To get down the basics of creating and managing a theme, you can create an empty Connect theme. During this process you'll set up a Connect project and begin defining the theme in preparation for further customization using lookAndFeel properties.

Change the look and feel

By utilizing a slew of lookAndFeel properties you can easily change the look and feel of pages, blog posts, and the Confluence header for any space.

Using design tokens

Instead of choosing specific colors for your theme, you can use the Atlassian Design System's design tokens. By using the CSS variable form of the tokens, your theme will follow changes made by the user when selecting Light or Dark themes. There are many design tokens to choose from, including semantic and nonsemantic-use colors. This allows you to maintain the chosen look and feel of your theme while adapting to the user's preference.

Example look and feel

Here's a complete example of a theme changing the look and feel of Confluence:

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"lookAndFeel": {
    "headings": {
        "color": "#333333"
    },
    "links": {
        "color": "#732D3E"
    },
    "menus": {
        "hoverOrFocus": {
            "backgroundColor": "#3873AE"
        },
        "color": "#732D3E"
    },
    "bordersAndDividers": {
        "color": "#0D0E0E"
    },
    "header": {
        "backgroundColor": "#661F2D",
        "button": {
            "backgroundColor": "#894E59",
            "color": "#FFFFFF"
        },
        "primaryNavigation": {
            "hoverOrFocus": {
                "backgroundColor": "#863647",
                "color" : "#FFFFFF"
            },
            "color": "#FFFFFF"
        },
        "secondaryNavigation": {
            "hoverOrFocus": {
                "backgroundColor": "#863647",
                "color": "#FFFFFF"
            },
            "color": "#000000"
        },
        "search": {
            "backgroundColor": "#9A636B",
            "color": "#FFFFFF"
        }
    },
    "content": {
        "screen": {
            "layer": {
                "height": "250px",
                "width": "100%",
                "backgroundImage": "url('//img/skyline_pink.jpg')",
                "backgroundSize": "cover",
                "backgroundRepeat": "no-repeat"
            },
            "background": "linear-gradient(45deg, rgba(176,104,112,1) 0%, rgba(244,212,216,1) 100%)",
            "gutterTop": "20px",
            "gutterRight": "small",
            "gutterBottom": "none",
            "gutterLeft": "small"
        },
        "container": {
            "background": "#F4D4D8",
            "padding": "0 20px",
            "borderRadius": "10px"
        },
        "header": {
            "background": "rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2)",
            "padding": "20px 0  90px 20px",
            "borderRadius": "5px 5px 0 0"
        },
        "body": {
            "background": "#FFFFFF",
            "padding": "10px",
            "borderRadius": "0 0 5px 5px"
        }
    }
}

Customize space home page

Rather than displaying the default Confluence page when users visit your space, you can override the space home page and apply your own custom template. This option enables you to define your space home experience to one that is more suitable to your theme.

Installing and selling your theme

Once you've completed styling your theme and customizing the home page experience, you can make your creation available to others using the Atlassian Marketplace.