Help:Skins

Shortcut H:SKIN

A skin defines a look and feel for the MediaWiki interface. Although the look and feel varies between skins, in general all skins have the same interface components. Each skin can show the same interface component differently, by showing it in different colors or positioning it differently on the page.

To try out the available skins and change skin, click on the Preferences link while logged in, then click on the "Appearance" tab. You can preview the available skins before choosing them in the "Skin" section, by clicking on the "Preview" link next to each skin.

Default skins

By default, Bulbapedia uses the Monobook skin for its desktop site and Minerva Neue when viewed on mobile. Logged out desktop users see a customised version of Monobook. A third option, Vector, the skin used by Wikipedia and other Wikimedia Foundation wikis, is also available.

While you can choose whichever skin you like, bear in mind that some templates or layout elements may not display as intended in some skins. However, Monobook and Vector tend to work well.

When MonoBook is selected, an option appears to "Enable responsive MonoBook design"; this improves the skin's usability on mobile and narrow displays. When Vector is selected, an option appears to "Use Legacy Vector"; the differences between Vector and Vector 2022 can be seen here.

Customization

Users familiar with Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) can customize the current skin's file by creating a subpage of their userpage and naming it after the skin plus a .css suffix, "User:Yourname/vector.css" for example. CSS placed in this sheet overrides the skin's CSS. For more information, see Help:Custom CSS.

See also

• Help:Preferences

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