Difference between revisions of "MediaWiki/Theming"

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or just dive into all the [http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Gallery_of_user_styles examples of user styles]
 
or just dive into all the [http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Gallery_of_user_styles examples of user styles]
  
−
==How to change the Logo==
+
 
 +
== How to chage the Logo ==
 +
 
 
You can change the Logo of the wiki by altering the $wgLogo variable in LocalSettings.php to the name of the image you want to use as a logo.
 
You can change the Logo of the wiki by altering the $wgLogo variable in LocalSettings.php to the name of the image you want to use as a logo.
 
Please note that this logo should be placed in the /skins/common/images/ folder.
 
Please note that this logo should be placed in the /skins/common/images/ folder.
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</pre>
 
</pre>
  
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==How to change the favicon==
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 +
== How to change the favicon ==
 
You can change the icon that is displayed in the address bar of your browser by setting a value for $wgFavicon in the LocalSettings.php file
 
You can change the icon that is displayed in the address bar of your browser by setting a value for $wgFavicon in the LocalSettings.php file
 
<pre>
 
<pre>
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</pre>
 
</pre>
  
 +
== How to make your own skin ==
 +
A skin generally has it's own directory, plus two setup files.
 +
If you wanted to create a skin called 'Happy' you would have
 +
<pre>
 +
happy
 +
Happy.php
 +
Happy.deps.php
 +
</pre>
 +
in the 'skins' directory.
  
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==Styling==
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The easiest way to create your skin is to copy the monobook skin and start from there.
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A user can completely affect the styling of the wiki they are using by applying user-defined styling to the site. [[meta:Help:User_style]]
 
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==This wiki==
 
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This wiki uses the [[Chameleon]] skin, which is based on [[Bootstrap]] and the Bootstrap extension.  [https://www.quora.com/Is-Bootstrap-a-complement-or-an-alternative-to-HTML5-Boilerplate-or-viceversa That is not synonymous with HTML5].  Bootstrap is a specialized, modular, HTML/CSS/JS toolkit.  The HTML5 Boilerplate (H5BP) is a starting project template that is designed to be adapted to your needs.  In short, they can (and probably should) be used together.
 
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==HTML5==
 
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If you want to use HTML5 in your wiki, then you need at least version 1.16.0 of MediaWiki, which is the first version that includes the <code>$wgHtml5</code> setting.  See http://www.initializr.com/ in general and also Richard Carter's website <ref>http://www.earlgreyandbattenburg.co.uk/extras/mediawiki-html5-skin/</ref> for information specific to MediaWiki
 
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== OOUI - The Object Oriented User Interface ==
 
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# [https://doc.wikimedia.org/oojs-ui/master/demos/?page=widgets&theme=wikimediaui&direction=ltr&platform=desktop Simulator Demos]
 
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# [https://doc.wikimedia.org/oojs-ui/master/js/#!/api/OO.ui.TextInputWidget Docs]
 
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# [[mw:OOUI/Using OOUI in MediaWiki|Using OOUI in MediaWiki]]: Enter code like the following into the JavaScript console (Chrome DevTools)
 
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<syntaxhighlight lang="javascript" line="1">
 
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mw.loader.using( 'oojs-ui-core' ).done( function () {
 
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$( function () {
 
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var button = new OO.ui.ButtonWidget( {
 
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label: 'Click me!'
 
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} );
 
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button.on( 'click', function () {
 
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alert( 'You clicked the button!' );
 
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} );
 
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$( '#mw-content-text' ).append( button.$element );
 
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} );
 
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} );
 
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</syntaxhighlight>
 
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==Icons and Graphics==
 
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For aspiring artists who want to create icons, see the [http://wiki.kde.org/tiki-index.php?page=Icon+Guide Icon Guide] on KDE.org
 
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If you know the ropes of creating good graphics, see the Nuvola2 project, which appears to be an effort in the mediawiki community to bring a whole set of scalable graphics to the project.
 
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#http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Nuvola_icons_for_KDE_3.x
 
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#http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Project_Nuvola_2.0%2B
 
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If you just want to have a bunch of good graphics available for use in your wiki, then there are image administration tools that you can use to batch import collections of graphics.  Mediawiki can now handle Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) so with a little configuration, you can import a group of SVGs and use that as a basis for your theme.
 
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In this wiki, I imported the Oxygen graphics (see below).  Importing is handled by a 'maintenance' script.  See details about how image assets are managed at [[mw:Manual:Image_Administration]]
 
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As for complete icon sets, there are a few well-known sets in the Free Software community.
 
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;Crystal :The KDE crystal set is nice, and you can find out more at [http://everaldo.com/crystal/ Everaldo's website].
 
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;Oxygen :The standard icon theme for KDE4 You can also get scalable vector graphics from the oxygen set.  If you <source lang="bash">sudo apt-get install kde-icons-oxygen </source>, you should find them on your system in /usr/lib/kde4/share/icons/oxygen/ Note that you need an application (like Konqueror, Dolphin, Gwenview or Inkscape - but not Gqview) that can display SVG to view the svgz files.  http://www.oxygen-icons.org/
 
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;Tango :http://tango.freedesktop.org/Tango_Desktop_Project
 
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Once you have all these graphics at your disposal, you'll probably want to use some of them as interface elements, rather than just as decoration / illustration of your articles.  In that case, you'll want to use something like the [[Icons|Icon extension]].
 
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==How to use Templates for information design, consistency, and utility==
 
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The [[Templates|template]] system allows you to create re-usable interface elements such as 'sidebars', 'callouts' or 'info boxes' and almost limitless utility.  The [[Wikipedia:Template:Ambox|Ambox template]] is an example of a template that you'll probably want to use in your local wiki system.
 
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==How to change the navigation==
 
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The navigation system is setup through a special type called an 'interface message'.  (The interface message system is also used for many other aspects of the Mediawiki system.)  This means that you don't actually have to change 'code' to affect the menu.  You can simply edit a special page in the mediawiki system.  Edits to this page get stored in the database like every other page edit which provides built-in versioning etc.  However, it can also mean that pushing changes from a development machine to a server can be more challenging than pushing 'code' changes.
 
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In any case, to change the nav, you will want to edit the '''[[MediaWiki:Sidebar]]''' page.  The right to edit this page is normally restricted to administrators, so if you want to delegate the responsibility for this, you will want to look at the user permissions system.  There are rules and conventions which apply here, and you can [[mw:Manual:Navigation_bar | find more help in the documentation]].  In case you are going to change the location of blocks like the '''search''' box or '''toolbox''' (which normally show up in the sidebar) by making a custom theme, you'll want to coordinate those changes with the sidebar.
 
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It is possible, using JavaScript, to customize the '''search''' or '''toolbox'''.  (We did this for the [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Html2Wiki Html2Wiki extension].)  See the article here on [[MediaWiki/Toolbox]].
 
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==Interface Messages==
 
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At [[Special:AllMessages]], you can see the interface messages (sometimes referred to as System Messages) for the MediaWiki system. See [[mw:Help:System message]]
 
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In MediaWiki 1.18 and above, you can find a message key by browsing a wiki in the special pseudo-language code <code>'''qqx'''</code>, which can be done by appending <code>?uselang=qqx</code> to the URL, or <code>&uselang=qqx</code> if the URL already contains a <code>?</code> character ([{{fullurl:{{FULLPAGENAME}}|uselang=qqx}} example]). All the messages will then be replaced by their message keys, so you can identify which message is responsible. Messages that are always in the content language will not be shown using qqx. 
 
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Aside from changing the Navigation bar, this is how we customized the ISBN message that is used in the 'Book Sources' special page e.g. [[Special:BookSources/1594200068|Special:BookSources/1594200068]].  All these messages are in the '''MediaWiki''' namespace.  So, if the message key is 'Requestaccount-acc-text', then you can change the content of the message by editing 'MediaWiki:Requestaccount-acc-text'.
 
  
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Another option for finding the right message string, besides the 'uselang' hack, is to use the Translate Wiki (which is part of the system that provides translations for multiple software projects including MediaWiki). Visit https://translatewiki.net/wiki/Special:SearchTranslations and simply enter the "string you want to change". For example, if you're using the Special:UploadWizard and want to change the wording on the button that says "Select media files to share", you'd enter that phrase at Translate Wiki. Click 'search' and then in the results, click the link that says "Require all search words" (or add <tt>&match=all</tt> to the querystring). Presto, you've found that it's the <tt>MediaWiki:Mwe-upwiz-add-file-0-free</tt> string.
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You can create a skin all by yourself by following the steps provided below:
  
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==How to make your own skin==
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# Go to your mediawiki directory;
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[[mw:User:Dantman|Daniel Friesen]] offers a [https://blog.redwerks.org/2012/02/28/mediawiki-subskin-tutorial/ good tutorial] on how to subclass the [[mw:Skin:Vector|Vector skin]] to create a new derivative skin. And his [https://blog.redwerks.org/2012/02/08/mediawiki-skinning-tutorial/ MediaWiki skinning tutorial] is the basis for the [[mw:Manual:Skinning Part 1|official manual on skinning]].
+
# Copy the monobook directory and name it with the name of your skin: happy;
 +
# Copy the MonoBook.php file and name it with the name of your skin: Happy.php;
 +
# Edit Happy.php and change the class name to SkinHappy: <source lang="php">class SkinHappy extends SkinTemplate;</source>
 +
# In Happy.php, change the template class to have your skin name together with the word 'Template': <source lang="php">class HappyTemplate extends QuickTemplate;</source>
 +
# Also in  Happy.php, make the references to the skin match the names:  
 +
<source lang="php">
 +
        $this->skinname  = 'happy'; // matches the physical directory name
 +
        $this->stylename = 'happy'; // matches the physical directory name
 +
        $this->template  = 'HappyTemplate'; // matches the template class name
 +
</source>
 +
# In your happy directory edit the image and CSS files until your heart is content;
 +
# Edit and customise Happy.php as you please;
  
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==Making your Skin Available==
+
== Making your Skin Available ==
 
To make your skin available sitewide, and the default skin, set it in LocalSettings.php e.g. set $wgDefaultSkin = 'happy'.
 
To make your skin available sitewide, and the default skin, set it in LocalSettings.php e.g. set $wgDefaultSkin = 'happy'.
  
 
To let your users decide which skin they can use, you can enable user preferences.
 
To let your users decide which skin they can use, you can enable user preferences.
  
−
==Offering/Using multiple skins==
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== Nice Examples ==
−
If you have multiple skins available, you can preview and switch between them by [[Special:Preferences|visiting your user preferences]].  Since a given skin can be specified in the querystring, you can even bookmark a certain 'look' for easy comparison with a new theme.  e.g. http://freephile.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page&useskin=monobook
+
The skin used on this site is based on [http://paulgu.com/wiki/Mediawiki_Skins the excellent work of Paul Gu]
  
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==Nice Examples==
+
I've seen some other projects that have nice mediawiki skins, but I never bothered to write them down.  A quick search reveals several projects by Suse:
−
I've previously created a custom skin based on [http://paulgu.com/wiki/Mediawiki_Skins the excellent work of Paul Gu]  Developers should check out [[Wiki developers]] for more sites of people like Paul who develop wikis.
+
# http://en.opensuse.org/Welcome_to_openSUSE.org
 +
# http://www.mono-project.com/Main_Page
 +
# http://beagle-project.org/Main_Page
 +
# http://en.opensuse.org/Welcome_to_openSUSE.org
  
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There are countless examples of MediaWiki installations across the Internet.  We've started indexing all the wikis we can find, and you can see a list of the top wikis at {{WikiReportUrl}}. Some of the ones that have actually customized the "look and feel" include
+
I hesitate to call it a 'nice example' because it doesn't seem all that compelling, but there is the mozilla project wiki https://wiki.mozilla.org/Main_Page I'm fairly certain without checking the wayback machine that developer.mozilla.org used to run mediawiki, with a very nice theme and lots of custom templates and graphics.  Now they are running a commercial opensource wiki product.
  
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*the [http://techbase.kde.org/ KDE Techbase] is Mediawiki.  The http://techbase.kde.org/Development/Software_Engineering_Framework article explains all their tech platform tools.
+
== Resources ==
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*The [http://tango.freedesktop.org/Tango_Desktop_Project Tango] project (see "icons" above) runs their website on a customized MediaWiki.
+
The [http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Layout_design_document Layout Design Document] might cover some relevant info, but a quick glance makes it seem that it's circa 2004.
−
*The [http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Main_Page Blender] project has a nice custom skin
 
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*The [http://wiki.eclipse.org/Main_Page Eclipse project] uses MediaWiki for their wiki site
 
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*[https://community.kde.org/Amarok Amarok] rocks with MediaWiki
 
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*[http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Main_Page Creative Commons]
 
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*[http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Special:Version Fedora Project wiki]
 
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*[http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Main_Page Ubuntu Guide]
 
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*http://en.opensuse.org/Welcome_to_openSUSE.org
 
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*http://beagle-project.org/Main_Page
 
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*The [https://wiki.mozilla.org/Main_Page Mozilla Project wiki] runs MediaWiki
 
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==Resources==
 
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{{Highlight |
 
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|text = For Extension Developers, there is now an object-oriented [[JavaScript]] library included in MediaWiki core [[mw:OOjs UI]]}}
 
  
 
The skinning manual http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Skinning is probably the most comprehensive and best introduction to how the skin system works aside from digging into [http://svn.wikimedia.org/viewvc/mediawiki/trunk/phase3/skins/ the code in the 'skins' directory].
 
The skinning manual http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Skinning is probably the most comprehensive and best introduction to how the skin system works aside from digging into [http://svn.wikimedia.org/viewvc/mediawiki/trunk/phase3/skins/ the code in the 'skins' directory].
−
 
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http://www.softwarekombinat.de/wiki/Customize_mediawiki has one of the best 'howto's that I found.
 
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The [http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Layout_design_document Layout Design Document] might cover some relevant info, but a quick glance makes it seem that it's circa 2004.
 
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{{References}}
 
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[[Category:Design]]
 
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[[Category:Wiki]]
 

Revision as of 08:41, 5 October 2008

You can change the look and layout of your Mediawiki site. The place to start is the wikimedia groups' meta pages.

There is the design document and the info on skins or just dive into all the examples of user styles


[edit | edit source]

You can change the Logo of the wiki by altering the $wgLogo variable in LocalSettings.php to the name of the image you want to use as a logo. Please note that this logo should be placed in the /skins/common/images/ folder. 

$wgLogo             = "$wgStylePath/common/images/freephile_sm_logo.gif";


How to change the favicon[edit | edit source]

You can change the icon that is displayed in the address bar of your browser by setting a value for $wgFavicon in the LocalSettings.php file 

$wgFavicon          =  "http://www.freephile.com/images/logos/favicon.ico";

How to make your own skin[edit | edit source]

A skin generally has it's own directory, plus two setup files. If you wanted to create a skin called 'Happy' you would have 

happy
Happy.php
Happy.deps.php

in the 'skins' directory.

The easiest way to create your skin is to copy the monobook skin and start from there.

You can create a skin all by yourself by following the steps provided below:

  1. Go to your mediawiki directory;
  2. Copy the monobook directory and name it with the name of your skin: happy;
  3. Copy the MonoBook.php file and name it with the name of your skin: Happy.php;
  4. Edit Happy.php and change the class name to SkinHappy: 
    class SkinHappy extends SkinTemplate;
  5. In Happy.php, change the template class to have your skin name together with the word 'Template': 
    class HappyTemplate extends QuickTemplate;
  6. Also in Happy.php, make the references to the skin match the names:
        $this->skinname  = 'happy'; // matches the physical directory name
        $this->stylename = 'happy'; // matches the physical directory name
        $this->template  = 'HappyTemplate'; // matches the template class name
  1. In your happy directory edit the image and CSS files until your heart is content;
  2. Edit and customise Happy.php as you please;

Making your Skin Available[edit | edit source]

To make your skin available sitewide, and the default skin, set it in LocalSettings.php e.g. set $wgDefaultSkin = 'happy'.

To let your users decide which skin they can use, you can enable user preferences.

Nice Examples[edit | edit source]

The skin used on this site is based on the excellent work of Paul Gu

I've seen some other projects that have nice mediawiki skins, but I never bothered to write them down. A quick search reveals several projects by Suse:

  1. http://en.opensuse.org/Welcome_to_openSUSE.org
  2. http://www.mono-project.com/Main_Page
  3. http://beagle-project.org/Main_Page
  4. http://en.opensuse.org/Welcome_to_openSUSE.org

I hesitate to call it a 'nice example' because it doesn't seem all that compelling, but there is the mozilla project wiki https://wiki.mozilla.org/Main_Page I'm fairly certain without checking the wayback machine that developer.mozilla.org used to run mediawiki, with a very nice theme and lots of custom templates and graphics. Now they are running a commercial opensource wiki product.

Resources[edit | edit source]

The Layout Design Document might cover some relevant info, but a quick glance makes it seem that it's circa 2004.

The skinning manual http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Skinning is probably the most comprehensive and best introduction to how the skin system works aside from digging into the code in the 'skins' directory.

Cascading Style Sheets = A technology that deals with the presentation of content on the web

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