Document the markup for macro names and parameters - both wiki markup and the new storage format

1) Wiki markup

We need to restore the documentation of the wiki markup for macro parameters. This information exists in the Confluence 3.5 documentation, but people need it in Confluence 4.x too.

See comment here:
http://confluence.atlassian.com/display/DOC/Working+with+Macros?focusedCommentId=279511378#comment-279511378

Anonymous

Please can we have the 3.5 User's Guide back? It contained so much more useful information. For example:

This page (Working with Macros) was in a sensible place. Now I find it under "Customising Confluence"??
The Index was not just a bunch of labels. Who knows what labels you've used?
Macro parameters were given in detail, with examples of syntax.

Your tech writers are trying to be too clever by half. I speak as a tech writer...

And Sarah's reply:
http://confluence.atlassian.com/display/DOC/Working+with+Macros?focusedCommentId=279511414#comment-279511414

Sarah Maddox [Atlassian Technical Writer]

Hallo anonymous

I'm sorry that you've been having trouble finding the information that you need. I agree with you that this page (Working with Macros) was in an odd place. I've moved it under the section called "Creating Content". The technical writers spent a fair bit of time rearranging the table of contents in time for the Confluence 4.1 release, in the hope that it would be simpler to follow. So feedback like this is useful.

I think the index in the 3.5 guide was the same. It's possible the Confluence user interface that is making it look different, and more like a bunch of labels. In previous versions, the labels were displayed as simple links, whereas now each label is a big block. But the functionality of the index is unchanged. The Confluence 3.5 User's Guide is still around: Working with macros. However, it's hosted on this wiki, which is of course using the latest version of Confluence.

I think that the reason for removing the details of the macro syntax was that Confluence no longer uses wiki markup as its primary entry format, although you can still insert it on initial input. The macro browser UI gives the details of the parameters. I do agree, though, that in some cases the simplification went too far, especially given the fact that wiki markup is still a valid way of entering content. I hope to fix this, as soon as time allows. At the moment, my focus is on documenting the upcoming release. (smile)

Cheers, Sarah

2) New storage format

We also need to document the macro names and parameters for the new storage format. See the page discussing the Confluence 4.x storage format:
http://confluence.atlassian.com/x/twRnE