Manual:Skin configuration

This page explains how to configure skins on a wiki for administrators.

This documentation applies to MediaWiki 1.31+.

For using skins, refer to Help:Skins for general skin information.

For developers who want to create new skins or edit existing skins, refer to Manual:How to make a MediaWiki skin for technical information.

Downloading skins

The MediaWiki tarball download comes pre-bundled with several skins. See Bundled extensions and skins#Skins for a list.

However, if you have downloaded MediaWiki from Git, or if you want to install additional skins, you will need to separately download the code for that skin or skins.

Many MediaWiki skins are contained in the Wikimedia Git repository (see the full skin repository listing). You can download tarballs of skins from the skin distributor.

To download one of the skins in this group via Git, you should make a call like the following:

git clone https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/mediawiki/skins/[name of skin]

e.g.: To get the default skin Vector, you should give the following from the skins/ subdirectory of your MediaWiki installation folder:

git clone https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/mediawiki/skins/Vector

Checkout an appropriate release of the skin. Change into the new directory and run:

git checkout REL1_35

(replace REL1_35 with another release branch or tag)

Enabling skins

For any skin in your /skins directory that you wish to use, you must enable it in your LocalSettings.php file. For example, to enable Vector, add the following. If you have multiple skins, each must be enabled with a separate statement:

// MediaWiki 1.24 or less
require_once "$IP/skins/Vector/Vector.php";
// MediaWiki 1.25+
wfLoadSkin( 'Vector' );

(This is equivalent to enabling an extension, only in a different directory.)

Additional steps may be required depending on the choice of skin. Detailed installation instructions are available on each skin's page on mediawiki.org; for example, for Vector see Skin:Vector#Installation. Instructions for all other skins are analogous.

Setting the default skin for a wiki

A default skin should be set for new users of a wiki by setting the variable $wgDefaultSkin in LocalSettings.php to the lowercase skin name specified in the skin file. Users can still change their skin by going to their preferences page, unless you uninstall or suppress all other skins, or disable the preference altogether (see below). For example:

$wgDefaultSkin = 'vector';

Changing these values on an existing wiki will automatically change the setting of all users who have been using the previous default skin. There is a maintenance script to change users' preferences (userOptions.php ), but you will most likely not need to use it.

If you do not change this value, Vector will be the default skin.

Uninstalling skins

To uninstall a skin, remove the wfLoadSkin (or require_once for MediaWiki 1.24 or older) line from your LocalSettings.php file. You may remove the skin files from the skins/ directory afterwards.

If any users have been using the skin you just uninstalled, MediaWiki will automatically switch them to the default skin of the wiki.

Suppressing skins without uninstalling

The administrator can limit the skin choices that are offered site-wide in user's preferences by listing skin(s) to suppress in the $wgSkipSkins array. This might be useful if you want to test a new skin without letting users see it. To do this, put something like this in LocalSettings.php :

// To remove various skins from the User Preferences choices
$wgSkipSkins = array( "monobook", "timeless" );

You will be able to preview the skin using the useskin URL parameter.

Site-wide CSS modifications

MediaWiki allows administrators to specify site-wide CSS rules to be added to every page rendered. These rules can be added by editing the page MediaWiki:Common.css on your wiki, if $wgUseSiteCss is set to true. In addition to a global stylesheet, one can also specify CSS rules to be used only in certain skins (see Manual:Interface/Stylesheets).

User CSS modifications

Users can also specify their own CSS rules by creating the page "User:Username/common.css". The CSS on this page is then applied to whatever skin the user is using. If the website is changed to a different default skin, the user's custom CSS will continue to work just as before. This feature can be enabled by setting $wgAllowUserCss to true in LocalSettings.php . A user can also apply CSS to a specific skin by creating the page "User:Username/skinname.css". If a user uses the MonoBook skin for example, they would edit the page Special:MyPage/monobook.css.

Disable site users' ability to choose skins in user preferences

MediaWiki version:

≥ 1.16

The system administrator can completely remove the "Skin" option so that it does not show up at all in User Preferences. This makes sense if your site will use a customized skin and would not look right in any other skin.

To do it, add a new line containing the following code to LocalSettings.php. It will remove the "Skin" option from preferences and the possibility to use the useskin parameter in the URL.

$wgHiddenPrefs[] = 'skin';