Topic on Manual talk:How to make a MediaWiki skin

Hi, the issue I have with this article is that it starts off by saying that if you know HTML, CSS and Javascript you can create a skin. Knowledge of PHP and 'Mustache' are not essential. But thereafter the entire page talks about nothing else but PHP and Mustache.

I honestly do not even know where to begin with this. Having downloaded the example theme I see dozens of files and I have not the first clue where to start and what to do. Is MediaWiki simply not designed for beginners, like WordPress is for example?

You shouldn't need to know PHP, but Mustache is definitely a requirement (could you point me to where in the page it suggests that it isn't?).

Where is PHP referenced? I am only seeing reference to it in the advanced section.

Personally I recommend following the guide here as it is currently the most up to date:

Manual:How to make a MediaWiki skin#Option 3 - From the command line

Regarding where to start - I'd suggest modifying templates/skin.mustache, resources/skin.less and resources/skin.js to see instance feedback that it's working.

Hope this helps.