Public View is available no matter which publishing approach is used. When not publishing within the same space, the public view doesn't provide any value and might confuse users.

To deactivate Public View link in a specific space or globally

Add the line 

#sv-scmtb-misc-enable-readonlyview {display: none;}
CSS

to the space stylesheet (or globally, if you want to change it for all your spaces). This will hide the "Switch to Public View" link in the dropdown (but this will cause a tiny empty list entry in the dropdown, resulting in 'double borders').

Change background color on the page in the Public View

  1. Open the global configuration
  2. In the Look and Feel section click Custom HTML

  3. Enter the following code into the At end of the HEAD field: 

    <script type="text/javascript">
AJS.$(document).ready(function() {
    if (AJS.$('.sv-reader-view-label').length > 0) {
        AJS.$('#main').css('background-color','rgba(243, 165, 54, 0.36)');
    }
})();
</script>
    JS

    This code will color the background of the page in a light orange every time the public view is displayed. You can change the color by adjusting the values in brackets next to rgba.

Automatically redirect from Public View to Author View

  1. Open the global Confluence configuration,
  2. in the Look and Feel section click on Custom HTML,

  3. enter the following code into the At end of the BODY field:

    Scroll Versions ≥ 3.11.1

    <script>
var clickLink = function() {
            if (document.getElementById('sv-reader-view-toolbar-disable-readonlyview')) {
                document.getElementById('sv-reader-view-toolbar-disable-readonlyview').click();
            } else {
                window.setTimeout(clickLink, 100);
            }
        };
        clickLink();
</script>
    JS

    Scroll Versions < 3.11.1

    <script>
$(document).ready(function(){if(document.getElementById('sv-scmtb-misc-disable-readonlyview')){ document.getElementById('sv-scmtb-misc-disable-readonlyview').click();}});
</script>
    JS