Classic Userscripts

Userscripts managed by users in their browsers by a userscript manager is the classical way of using userscripts. Greasmonkey and Tampermonkey are tools to be installed by users in their browsers as plugins to control the execution of userscripts.

These tools allow users to specify the context in which installed userscripts should be executed. This may be as simple as a URL or URL pattern.

The userscripts are managed by the users themselves. This puts the freedom to choose as well as the burden to find, install, and update userscripts in the hand of the users.

Bookmarklets

Bookmarklets are Javascript code stored as bookmarks in the browser users. They can be used without any further technology, like plugins required by userscripts, but are sometimes not easy to use because of security barriers imposed by the browser. The script also needs to be encoded to be stored in a bookmark. Although this is an easy transformation of the original JavaScript code, this is also an obstacle preventing easy use for less experienced users.

When userscripts can be executed manually or automatically, bookmarklets are only available for manual execution. Users need to click a bookmark stored in their browser to execute the code. Besides this limitations bookmarklets have the same advantages for users in the sense that they are free to choose their tools, but need to find, install, and update their bookmarklets individually.

Userscripts for Confluence

Userscripts for Confluence allow to adminstrate userscripts on a Confluence server on behalf of the users. The advantage is that the administration team of a Confluence servers tightly controls the code that is executed on their users' browsers. They can centrally select, install, and update userscripts, making it easier for less experienced users to take advantage of userscript functions and thoroughly check the code for security or other issues.

Userscripts for Confluence makes it easy to quickly install userscripts and make them available for a selected audience. This way the usability of scripts can be tested in a production environment under defined conditions. For instance in specified locations (spaces or pages) or for a group of users or individual users.

In this scenario users are no longer free to install any scripts. Therefore if the administrators do not install a particular userscript, it is not available.

Confluence Apps

Confluence allows to create and install apps to add additional functions for Confluence. These apps may provide userscripts and configure them to execute in specific contexts.

Basically the userscripts written for Userscripts for Confluence can be easily adapted, bundled in an app and deployed by the Confluence administration team. From the users' view the result would not be any different as the approach with the Userscripts for Confluence app.

The advantage of Userscripts for Confluence would be that it is more lightweight. The administration of the userscripts is only dependent on the code and does not require an additional project, knowledge of app development, including Maven as a build management tool etc. It may also be considered easier to activate individual scripts, although this could be realized by putting a single JavaScript in each app.

Confluence Configuration

JavaScript can also be added to a page via configuration via Custom HTML (Confluence Administration) to a page. You may also include JavaScript via User Macros or the HTML Macro.

Summary

Experienced users may be best served by classic userscripts or bookmarklets. This way they are in full control over which code to execute under which circumstances.

For less experienced users it is probably easier to allow the administration team to provide the additional services by central installation. The burden of selecting the tools, checking the code for security and other issues, and updating the code for new versions or due to alteration of the Confluence server is then located on the administration team. The administration team may choose between a simple app like Userscripts for Confluence or choose to create one or more projects to provide these additional features by their own app. The time to get code in production, to add users, or remove a function is typically significantly shorter with Userscripts for Confluence than creating a new app.

Resources

More information on this topic is available by the following resources.