In computing, atheme is a preset package containing graphical appearance and functionality details. A theme usually comprises a set of shapes and colors for thegraphical control elements, thewindow decoration and thewindow. Themes are used to customize thelook and feel of a piece ofcomputer software or of anoperating system.
Also known as askin (orvisual style inWindows XP)[1] it is a custom graphical appearance preset package achieved by the use of agraphical user interface (GUI) that can be applied to specificcomputer software,operating system, andwebsites to suit the purpose, topic, or tastes of different users. As such, a skin can completely change the look and feel and navigation interface of a piece ofapplication software or operating system.
Software that is capable of having a skin applied is referred to as beingskinnable, and the process of writing or applying such a skin is known asskinning. Applying a skin changes a piece of software's look and feel—some skins merely make the program more aesthetically pleasing, but others can rearrange elements of the interface, potentially making the program easier to use.
Themes are often used to change the look and feel of a wide range of things at once, which makes them much lessgranular than allowing the user to set each option individually. For example, users might want the window-borders from a particular theme, but installing it would also alter the desktop background.
One method for dealing with this is to allow the user to select which parts of the theme they want to load; for example in Windows 98, users could load the background and screensaver from a theme, but leave the icons and sounds untouched.
Firefox andGoogle Chrome either support or supported a form of theme. Firefox (and its siblingThunderbird) supports themes either throughlightweight themes (formerlyPersonas).[3] Google Chrome version 3.0 or later allows themes to alter the appearance of the browser.[4]Internet Explorer 5 andits immediate successor allowed the background picture of their toolbars to be customized.[5]
The most popular skins are forinstant messagingclients,media center, andmedia player software, such asTrillian andWinamp, due to the association with fun that such programs try to encourage.
Some platforms support changing the standard interface, including most using theX Window System. For those that do not, programs can add the functionality, likeWindowBlinds forMicrosoft Windows andShapeShifter formacOS.
Many websites are skinnable, particularly those that providesocial capabilities. Some sites provide skins that make primarily cosmetic changes, while some—such asH2G2—offer skins that make major changes to page layout. As with standalone software interfaces, this is facilitated by the underlying technology of the website—XML andXSLT, for instance, facilitate major changes of layout, whileCSS can easily produce different visual styles.