Re: Confluence Usage

[John G <john -at- garisons -dot- com>]

Laura - what are your concerns? If you stated specific areas we could
provide feedback on them rather than generalities.

IMHO, no tool is perfect. This one is about as good as it gets. I sorta
agree with Sharon about PDF quality but we don't produce PDFs - we let our
users have the wiki version. There are sufficient controls to let you turn
things on and off to get the level of control and feedback you are
comfortable with. I have to say that this is one of my favorite tools of
all time - second only to Dreamweaver. You couldn't drag me back to Frame
if you tried!

And - it has a cool factor!

My 2Â,
JG


On Tue, Jul 14, 2015 at 2:07 PM, Laura Phillips <laurap -at- pluribusnetworks -dot- com
> wrote:

> Thanks for the feedback so far. Iâm just not sure if itâs the right move
> at this time, but youâve all given me something to think about.
>
> Laura
>
>
>
>
> On 7/14/15, 10:56 AM, "Sharon Metzger" <sharon -dot- metzger -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:
>
> >I've been using Confluence since November. We currently deliver PDFs only.
> >It was here when I got here, and has had a series of (now moved-on) tech
> >writers working on various versions and various templates.
> >
> >Our software shop uses lots of Atlassian tools (Jira, Stash, HipChat,
> etc),
> >so the fact that all the tools play well together is attractive.
> >
> >Built-in PDF export is challenging. Your CSS savvy will be stretched, and
> >there's still some black magic under the covers. I'm currently working on
> >templates for the Scroll PDF Exporter (eval version), but that seems to
> have
> >different quirks than the built-in PDF, so the jury's still out.
> >
> >Our engineers and sales/product folks use it extensively for an internal
> >wiki. (design docs, release plans, roadmaps, customer wish lists, general
> >how-tos, and the like).  They've gotten much better at posting things
> since
> >I've jumped in as an active curator -- customizing the dashboard,
> archiving
> >obsolete pages, generally making it easier to find what's current, etc.
> >
> >They also like collaborating and commenting on the doc sources. I was
> >nervous about the collaboration (that engineers would go in mucking up all
> >my carefully crafted professional-writer work), but for the most part,
> they
> >use the page and inline comment features and don't edit "my" sources. They
> >also like the Comala Workflows plugin I've implemented for review cycles
> and
> >signoffs.
> >
> >So, with caveats, it's working for us. I still miss Frame (which I lived
> in
> >for 15-20 years) and would love to get a chance to learn Flare. There are
> >enough quirks in Confluence's WYSISometimes/SortaWYG (agree on the
> necessity
> >of the source editor) and PDF production to make me hold back on a
> >wholehearted recommendation. Lists and nested lists are my nemesis. As are
> >pagebreaks.  But then, there's a whole community of folks out there who
> love
> >it and think it's the best thing since spell-check. I haven't found the
> >Kool-Aid yet, but it's hard to say where to draw the line between my still
> >less than expert knowledge and Confluence's real limitations.
> >
> >FWIW,
> >Sharon
> >
> >PS -- Robert -- I suspect I'd be interested in your pagebreak
> >macros/pointers. And thanks for your comments about Scroll HTML exporter
> vs
> >Confluence web delivery.
> >
> >
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: techwr-l-bounces+sharon -dot- metzger=gmail -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> >[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+sharon -dot- metzger=gmail -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On
> >Behalf Of John G
> >Sent: Monday, July 13, 2015 9:45 PM
> >To: Laura Phillips
> >Cc: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> >Subject: Re: Confluence Usage
> >
> >We've been using Confluence for our context-sensitive online help for the
> >past 18 months or so. We use the Scroll Versions add on to allow us to
> have
> >multiple doc versions (past, present, future releases) which adds
> complexity
> >but provides features we require. We also localize into three languages.
> >
> >We also use Confluence extensively for internal communications - various
> >teams and departments use it to develop and host content.
> >
> >It's gained wide popularity due to its ease of use. PDF capability is
> merely
> >adequate.
> >
> >I like using it as I can focus on content and not have to worry about
> >formatting.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >On Monday, July 13, 2015, Laura Phillips <laurap -at- pluribusnetworks -dot- com>
> >wrote:
> >
> >>
> >> Hi there,
> >>
> >> Are many companies using Confluence as the main tool for getting
> >> product information to customers? Since it is collaborative, what is
> >> the buy in necessary from the engineering group? Is that crucial to
> >> the success or failure of using the tool?
> >>
> >> Is it worth the effort to learn it and then subsequently maintain it?
> >>
> >> Just looking for any feedback or experience using Confluence,
> >>
> >> Laura
> >>
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> >
> >--
> >Sent from my iPad, please excuse any automatically created mis-corrections
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