The Help Center theme is one of the themes included in Scroll Viewport. As a prebuilt theme it can't be edited directly in the source code, but it does offer customization via settings. This makes the theme useful if you don't have any web development capacity at your disposal or if you are just getting started with Scroll Viewport.
Before reading this article, make sure you are familiar with the basic concepts in Scroll Viewport explained on the Get started page.
In the following section you will learn more about the structure of the Help Center theme and how spaces are managed. Also you learn how the theme is administered.
Structure
The Help Center theme can either manage one content space or multiple content spaces, connected by a portal space. The image below illustrates the scope of the different options.
One space
If your content lives in only one space in Confluence, you can use the Help Center theme to display this space as a help center. In this case, all you need to do is to create a copy of the Help Center theme in your content space and activate it.
Multiple spaces
If you have different documentation spaces that you would like to display in a unified help center, this is the right approach for you. The K15t Help Center you are currently on is using this approach to display the documentation for multiple apps in one help center.
In order to set up a multi-space help center, you need to create a dedicated space to connect all of the content spaces in one multi-space portal overview. This is referred to as the root space. By creating a viewport collection under the root space's path and activating the Help Center theme in all of them, they will behave as a unified help center.
Learn more about the structure of the Help Center theme.
Theme administration
Information about updates and scope of the theme.
Updates
The theme is updated with Scroll Viewport updates. When the theme is updated, your current modifications in the .properties file are applied to the new version of the theme. This way the look and settings are preserved, but bug fixes and new additions are applied to the live theme without the need to do it manually.
Scope
The Scope of your theme copy is initially limited to one space. You have the option to change the scope of the theme to global.
Global themes are selectable for all spaces and can only be edited by Confluence Administrators. Themes need to be made global to be used in a multi-space help center.
Customiziation
The Help Center theme can be customized in two ways: via the "theme-settings.properties" file and by manipulating content directly in your Confluence spaces.
Theme settings
Most of the visual customization of the Help Center theme is done by editing the theme-settings.properties file in the theme editor. Edits in this file affect all spaces in which the theme is active.
For example, you are able to switch layouts, turn on/off different components or change colors.
Learn more how to customize the theme.
Confluence space & page content
The Help Center theme uses some information directly from Confluence.
For example can you add page labels to highlight or hide pages or add a space avatar to control the header logo.
Learn more about what kind of Confluence information the theme is using.
