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 | This is an information page. It is not one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, but rather intends to describe some aspect(s) of Wikipedia's norms, customs, technicalities, or practices. It may reflect varying levels of consensus and vetting. |
Wikipedia, as a website powered by MediaWiki (a wiki software), is a skinnable website, which means the presentation (look and feel) of the pages can be changed. As of August 2021[update] there are four available skins: Vector (default on desktop), Minerva Neue (mobile), MonoBook, and Timeless. The following screenshots show the current skins along with preview links that allow anyone to load this page using them:
How to change the skin[edit]
Once you have an account and logged in, go to Special:Preferences and the "Skin" section of its Appearance tab. With the default skin, the Preferences page can be accessed at any time from the links placed in the top right corner. Choose your skin and then click Publish changes. Then, all pages will be loaded with the new selected skin.
If you are not logged in, you can only use the default skin (Vector), however, any user may change the skin of a page for them only, but only one each time, by typing ?useskin=skinname to the end of the URL (e.g., ?useskin=vector). The new Wikipedia redesign can also be tested with ?useskinversion=2 (Vector only).
Customisation[edit]
Default Wikipedia skins are defined in several CSS and JavaScript files. Some of them are only editable by people having write access to the Wikimedia Foundation servers, and some are simple wiki pages belonging to the MediaWiki namespace. These wiki pages can be seen directly on Wikipedia, but to prevent vandals from breaking the whole website appearance, they are fully protected, hence making them only editable by administrators (however, any changes can be suggested on their talk page). See Wikipedia:Catalogue of CSS classes.
Users can customise the way default skins appear using specific subpages of their user page. These subpages are viewable by anybody but can only be edited by the user that the subpage belongs to and by administrators. Modifying these wiki pages only affects their owner.
Customisation may involve one or both of
- Cascading Style Sheets or "CSS" (found in the user's ".css" files)
- JavaScript (found in the user's ".js" files)
There are two ways to apply customisation:
- Using Special:MyPage/common.css and Special:MyPage/common.js links, which point to a location which applies to all of a user's skins.
- Using Special:MyPage/skin.css and Special:MyPage/skin.js links which to point to a location which applies only to a user's current skin. For example, if you're using the default Vector skin, Special:MyPage/skin.css takes you to Special:MyPage/vector.css, and if you switch skins to MonoBook, its contents will no longer apply.
You can use both the common and the skin-specific files; if you do this, the common file is loaded before the skin-specific one.
Note: these links are redirects to your own customisation subpages; Special:MyPage is an alias for your userpage (try it and see). For example, when your username is example, Special:MyPage/common.css will direct you to User:Example/common.css.
If you have edited your personal skin files then you need to wait at least 30 seconds for the servers to update, then bypass your browser cache to see the change.
See also How to import MonoBook settings into Vector. For the list of all CSS and JavaScript files involved in the rendering process, see Wikipedia:Catalogue of CSS classes.
CSS[edit]
The CSS files can be used for all manner of customisation for those fluent in Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). A common use which is relatively straightforward is hiding a system message or template you don't wish to see; see Wikipedia:Customisation#Hiding specific messages.
JavaScript[edit]
On Wikipedia, JavaScript can be used to add new features such as add find/replace textboxes or give advanced rollback options. There are scripts to customise everything, from default font style to custom buttons.
Many script pages can be imported and used. Different scripts can also be used in conjunction with each other to accomplish several tasks at once. Some scripts are available as "Gadgets", which means they can be installed by simply ticking a box in the "Gadgets" tab of Special:Preferences.
In order to add pre-existing scripts to your JavaScript page, add {{subst:js|name of script}} to the file. More detailed instructions can be found at the Wikipedia:WikiProject User scripts/Tutorial.
"Global" CSS and JavaScript[edit]
Additionally to the above, you can also create files at meta:Special:MyPage/global.css and meta:Special:MyPage/global.js. These will then be loaded on all Wikimedia wikis.