Adding and Configuring
As usual, administrators install Zen from the Universal Plugin Manager (UPM).Cost
Pricing for Zen follows the same scale as Confluence.The number of Zen licenses must match the number of Confluence licenses. Licenses include 12 months of maintenance. You do not need to renew unless you want to update the plugin or need support. A free 30-day trial is also available.Use
Once your administrator installs the Zen plugin, you can define it as a space theme or global theme. These instructions focus exclusively on designing a space with Zen.Choose Theme
- Navigate to your space and select Browse > Space Admin > Themes.
- Select the Zen Foundation theme under the Chose New Theme section.
- Click the Confirm button.
Set and Create Master Pages
- A new section called Zen Foundation appears to the left of the Space Admin window.
- Click the Settings link.
- The Zen Foundation Settings page opens.
From here, you define and create the master page layout (and additional pages like the menu, header, footer) of the space. If you want your space to be its own master, change each configurable setting to This Space. If you want another space to be the master, change each configurable setting to the other space. To set and create the master and other pages to This Space, complete the following steps.
- At the bottom of the Zen Foundation Settings table, click the Edit button.
- For each configurable setting, select This Space (Zen Plugin) from the dropdown.
- Click the Save button.
- To create the master page layout, select the Click here to create an editable Master Page Layout page link from the first row, second column.
- For the other pages you want to create, select their corresponding links.
Edit the Appearance of the Master Page
After creating your master page, you can edit its appearance. Notice that the link in the first row, second column has changed to Click here to view and edit the Master Page Layout. Selecting this link takes you to the master page.
Choose a Brand for the Space
Zen provides a few brands for free. They also design brands for a fee. When your Confluence administrator installs Zen, the plugin loads three brands: Breeze, Ginseng and Juice. Your Confluence administrator can upload additional brands. (See the Upload a Brand to Confluence section below for additional information.)
To select a brand, navigate to Configuration > Space Brand in the toolbar then select the appropriate brand.
Working in a Zen Space
Editing pages in a Zen space functions a bit differently than when using other themes. For instance, each Bin is also a page. When you edit a Bin, the resulting page looks like any other editable Confluence page. However, the Save button has been replaced with a Preview button.This change in functionality is due to the fact that edits are not viewable by others until you publish the change.The publish option appears at the top of the Zen page.
The toolbar is also a bit awkward to navigate at first. For instance, accessing the Space Admin page is a bit confusing. You can either select Browse Space or Zen Space Layout from the Configuration menu. The most commonly used menus are:
| MENU | IMAGE |
| Personal Settings |  |
| Configuration |  |
| This Page |  |
| Add |  |
| Draft(s) |  |
Zen also loads several of its own macros into Confluence. For example, Zen has its own page tree macro.
Upload a Brand to Confluence
Brands are stored in the Confluence Home directory under zen/brands. Brand files contain an icon and images folder and a brand.properties file.
To upload a brand, you must be a Confluence administrator. Before uploading the files, compress them into a zip file. The name of the zip file must be all lower case letters—no numbers. The name must also match the value you enter for the zenBrandName property in the brand.properties file. You cannot remove a brand that a space is using.
To upload a brand:
- Navigate to the Administration Console and select Manage Brand Plug-ins from the Zen Foundation section.
- The Manage Brand Plug-ins frame opens.
- Navigate to the location of the zip file using the Browse button.
- Once you have selected the file, click the Upload button.
Design a Brand — High-level View
Zen provides detailed information on how to create a brand. Here are a few high-level descriptions to help you start.
To define your color palette, edit the following properties in the brand.properties file. (NOTE: The descriptions below are based on what I could see when making changes to this file and uploading the brand.)
| PROPERTY | DESCRIPTION |
| zenPrimaryColor | affects things like links and headings. |
| zenSecondaryColor | affects things like the color of the watermark, the word "Labels" (at the bottom of each page) and text in heading rows. |
| zenTertiaryColor | not sure what this affects. |
| zenLightColor | affects things like the background color of unselected tabs and section headings. |
| zenMediumColor | not sure what this affects. |
| zenDarkColor | affects things like the background color of selected tabs. |
The toolbar is governed by properties starting with zenToolbar. Menu items and dropdowns are governed by properties starting with zenMenu, zenTab and zenDrop.
You can change your brand's image/icon that appears on the Manage Brand Plug-ins frame by replacing the brand.gif file in the images folder. (NOTE: on several occasions I had to remove the brand, rename the zip file and the zenBrandName value then re-upload the zip file for the new image to appear.)
The following image provides a partial view into the anatomy of a Zen page.
Documentation and Support
Stepstone has extensive documentation available for Zen. However, searching for content does not always provide the most accurate results. Before starting with Zen, review the Branding Guide thoroughly, specifically the Brand Reference section.Issues
Zen provides support through email or phone. They currently do not have a forum; however, you can ask for help at Atlassian Answers. I have contacted Zen several times by email. Darryl Duke has been extremely helpful and knowledgeable.I had trouble determining what property in the color palette affected page titles. According to Zen, the property should be zenPrimaryColor. However, my page titles were different from the color I defined as the primary. I also spent a good bit of time trying to figure out what the color palette properties actually changed, which was frustrating. This may not be an issue for someone familiar with designing brands, but I would have appreciated more description on what the color palette actually affects.
One issue I found related either to Confluence or my browser. On several occasions I had to remove and reload my brand to see my changes take affect. Sometimes I also had to rename the zip file and the zenBrandName value.
Another issue I encountered in the beginning was how to color the space. I did not think to connect the color scheme of a space to its brand. (This could be because I am not a marketing person.) My first assumption was to set the color scheme from the Space Admin page. Since that option did not work, I searched the Zen website for "color space" and "how to color a space." However, my search failed to produce helpful results.
Conclusion
I was very excited to find that Stepstone changed their pricing structure because I can now afford a license. It would have been very depressing to remove all of the design changes I had implemented once my trial version expired. This plugin has been the most exciting to learn and write about. Zen gives Confluence users the power to create appealing and easy to navigate spaces.________________________________________________________________
Additional links of interest:
- Atlassian Marketplace Support Detail
- Zen Brand Package
- Brands to Download (see the Bins to the lower-left of the page)
- Zen Macros
Stay tuned for a brief review on Zen 5.2.2.
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