We’ve all been there. You access a page only to end up with a static wall of text that is difficult to navigate through, retrieve key information from, and generally engage with. The difference between an engaging Confluence page that drives action and one that is static and more forgettable comes down to one factor: Layout.
Your Confluence page layout is key to enhance navigation, boost engagement, and drive action. But how do you structure a Confluence page for clarity and impact? In this article, we’ll share a couple of tips and best practices on how to structure and choose your Confluence page layout, which macros to implement (both native and third party) and how.
Ask the Right Questions to Shape your Confluence Page Layout
Before diving into creating pages, you should always start by planning. And this, of course, requires you to answer some simple yet key questions.
- What’s the purpose and nature of your page?
- Who’s your audience? and what actions do you want them to take?
- What information is essential or supplementary?
- and more.
Answering these questions will help you determine the best layout, content structure, and of course, the macros you’ll be using.
For example, a knowledge base homepage’s purpose is to act as a gateway for important resources. The audience is primarily support agents and any knowledge contributors within your company. Their primary action is to access key sections with ease and stay updated on any new content. Which information to put front and center depends on a variety of factors. But in this case, you would want to highlight frequently accessed and updated pages, FAQs, external resources, etc.
Leverage Page Templates
You’ve answered all of the questions above and now it’s time to get started. You can start from scratch, import your own template with your preferred page layout, or start with built-in Confluence templates.
Templates provide structured layouts that can save time while ensuring consistency across your Confluence site. Additionally, they can give you fresh ideas and recommended layout structures that you’re maybe not familiar with. Of course, you can use templates as they are or further customize them to fit your needs. Popular templates include space homepages, meeting notes, project plans, onboarding, and more.
Built-in and Third-Party Macros to Structure your Page Layout
Layouts & Columns
Columns are the foundation of your page layout facilitating readability and streamlining overall navigation. You can add up to five columns with different customization options.
For this, directly type /layout or choose layouts from the toolbar.
You have complete control over the size of your columns. You can opt for equal width ones or a sidebar layout.
An equal-width layout ensures a balanced visual weight. This indicates that the columns are of equal importance guiding users to scan horizontally. They are ideal for multi-step workflows, comparisons, or to display important resources.

On the other hand, a sidebar layout is ideal for vertical navigation. You want to keep key context (like project details or team info) visible on this sidebar while displaying the main content on the wider section. This layout is ideal for parent pages such as a space homepage, dashboard, reports, and more.
Page Dividers
Dividers are pretty much straightforward. They help you break down text heavy content into digestible sections. This makes scanning your pages easier as there is a visual separation indicating a transition to a new topic.
To add a divider, simply type /divider. And always remember to use them between distinct sections as a separation rather than as a simple decoration. The overuse of dividers can make your pages look and feel fragmented rather than structured.
Native Confluence Tables
Perhaps one of the most used macros to structure a Confluence page layout, tables help you organize data in a structured way. They’re omnipresent in various built-in templates such as meeting notes, project plans, and others for a good reason. They’re easy to implement, customize and update.

To add a table, select the table icon from the toolbar and specify the number of columns and rows. You’ve got a variety of customization options including adding colors, numbered headers, or even creating your own charts. To further contextualize your tables, you can embed macros such as progress bars, pages statutes, and even collapsible sections.
Cards & carrousels
With the introduction of the new company hub feature, Confluence brought cards and carousels. They’re perfect for linking to key resources, internal blogs, or external content. You can use them within your company hub, onboarding space, or customer facing portals.
Cards are designed to highlight key content in a visually engaging way. To add a card, type /Cards. By default, they’re grouped in a three column layout, but you’ve got control on the number of cards to include. You can manually customize your cards by adding a title, image, text and links or create dynamic ones. The latter retrieves pre-defined data from your Confluence space such as pages, blogs, etc.

Carousels, on the other hand, help readers cycle through content without taking too much space. Generally, they’re placed at the top to display rotating content such as internal newsletters, blogs, etc. To add a carousel, type /Carousel and specify the title, add a description, and of course, images.

Although excellent for navigation and engagement, cards and carousels should be used thoughtfully. Avoid placing them together on the same page, as this can be overwhelming to the reader. You also need to maintain consistency in design to ensure familiarity and create a streamlined experience throughout your Confluence site.
Panels
We don’t find panels often within Confluence templates, but they’re an important addition to your initial page layout. They help you draw attention and highlight key information such as pro tips, warnings, and more. You can use native panels or rely on a dedicated content formatting app from Atlassian Marketplace. The latter offers advanced customization options helping you create tailored and more effective panels.
For more tips on how to effectively use panels, make sure to check out this dedicated blog post.
Collapsible sections
Collapsible sections or expanders help you enrich your content while managing space and avoiding clutter. They offer readers control of whether to show or hide content. They’re ideal for FAQs, additional details, or detailed explanations that users can reveal as needed.
Similar to panels, you can rely native expanders or third party ones. Although easy to implement and manage, native expanders lack in customization offering you little to no room for customization contrary to third party expanders.

When working with expanders, always make sure to only add supplementary information in there. If you deem the content important, you may want to rely on other macros such as panels and tabs.
For more tips to make the most out of expanders, make sure to check out this dedicated blog post.
Tabs
Tabs are my go to macro when I am working on long pages. They help in grouping content into sections making effective use of space, and reducing unnecessary scrolling. Use them as an alternative to headers, built-in columns or tables. and when presenting multiple sections, such as different project phases, team updates, and more.
Confluence doesn’t offer native tabs so you’ve got to rely on dedicated apps such as our very own Content Formatting Toolkit.
The key to using tabs effectively is to distinguish between horizontal and vertical layouts.
- Horizontal Tabs are ideal when presenting related categories at the top of a page. Best used when sections are relatively short and flow in a sequential order such as project phases.

- Vertical Tabs work better for longer and not necessarily related content, allowing users to navigate through structured sections while maintaining a clear page hierarchy.

Learn how to better work with Confluence tabs.
An engaging page is a combination of well-written content, and well-structured layout. Your content might be excellent but if it lacks a proper structure, your readers might find it difficult to engage with.
By asking the right questions, leveraging templates, and embedding dedicated macros, you can create a page layout that reflects the quality of your content.
For more articles like this, make sure to check out the blog, and our YouTube channel.