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Wikipedia, as a website powered byMediaWiki (awiki software), is askinnable website, which means the presentation (look and feel) of the pages can be changed. As of January 2024[update] there are five available skins:Vector 2022 (default on desktop from 2022),Vector 2010 (default on desktop from 2010 to 2021),Minerva Neue (mobile),MonoBook (default from 2004 to 2009), andTimeless. The following screenshots show the current skins along with preview links that allow anyone to load this page using them:
Once you have ancreated an account and logged in, go toPreferences →Appearance →Skin. In the default Vector 2022 skin, the Preferences page can be accessed at any time from the
Personal settings dropdown in the top right corner and selecting
Preferences. Choose your skin and click Save. 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 2022) normally, however, any user may change the skin of one page at a time by adding?useskin=skinname to the end of the URL, or&useskin=skinname for page URLs which already include a? (e.g.,?useskin=vector or?useskin=vector-2022).
You may want to create a bookmarklet in your local web browser in order to easily switch skin of any page (includingarticles and pages without{{select skin}} templates) with the click of a button.
For example, to create a bookmark to change the current page to MonoBook:
#"/wiki/Wikipedia:VPT" title="Wikipedia:VPT">WP:VPT. Be sure to link to [[Wikipedia:Skin#Skin selection bookmarklet]] in your request.Limitations
[edit]You must click it again each time you navigate to another page (if you would like to view the page to which you navigated in that special skin). Nevertheless, various browser add-ons allow you to circumvent this issue (a list of these add-ons and how to use them is however out of scope of this page).
Customisation
[edit]Main page:Wikipedia:CustomisationDefault Wikipedia skins are defined in severalCSS andJavaScript 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 theMediaWiki namespace. These wiki pages can be seen directly on Wikipedia, but to preventvandals from breaking the whole website appearance, they areprotected so they are only editable byinterface administrators (however, any changes can be suggested on theirtalk page). SeeWikipedia:Catalogue of CSS classes.
Users can customise the way default skins appear using specific subpages of theiruser page. These subpages are viewable by anybody but can only be edited by the user that the subpage belongs to and by interface 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:
- UsingSpecial:MyPage/common.css andSpecial:MyPage/common.js links, which point to a location which applies toall of a user's skins.
- UsingSpecial:MyPage/skin.css andSpecial:MyPage/skin.js links which point to a location which applies only to a user's current skin. For example, if you're using the default Vector 2010 skin,Special:MyPage/skin.css takes you toSpecial: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 toyour own customisation subpages;Special:MyPage is an alias for youruserpage (try it and see). For example, when your username isExample,Special:MyPage/common.css will direct you toUser:Example/common.css.
After you have edited your personal skin files, if the changes do not appear right away, you may need to wait 30 seconds or more for the servers to update, thenbypass your browser cache to see the change.
See alsoHow to import MonoBook settings into Vector. For the list of all CSS and JavaScript files involved in the rendering process, seeWikipedia:Catalogue of CSS classes.
CSS
[edit]Main page:Wikipedia:Customisation § Personal CSSSee also:Help:Cascading Style SheetsThe 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; seeWikipedia:Customisation#Hiding specific messages.
JavaScript
[edit]Main page:Wikipedia:User scriptsOn 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 beimported 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 ofSpecial: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 theWikipedia:User scripts/Guide."Global" CSS and JavaScript
[edit]Additionally to the above, you can also create files atmeta:Special:MyPage/global.css andmeta:Special:MyPage/global.js. These will then be loaded on all Wikimedia wikis.
Deprecated skins
[edit]TheModern andCologne Blue skins are deprecated. They can no longer be selected as default skins, but users who had previously selected them can still use them, and they can still be viewed temporarily using the
?useskinURL parameter. They are no longer maintained, so some features may not work on them and any bugs in them will probably not be fixed.Cologne Blue was created in 2002 and deprecated in 2019; seeTech News,discussion on Wikipedia, andPhabricator. Modern was created in 2008 and deprecated in 2021; seePhabricator,Wikipedia discussion #1,Wikipedia discussion #2,Wikipedia discussion #3.
If you still want to use either of these skins,you can enable them by viewingSpecial:Preferences in the relevant skin:
TheNostalgia skin, which was the original Wikipedia skinc. 2001, is only available onthe Nostalgia Wikipedia.
The following skins wereremoved in 2013 due to low usage numbers and lack of support:
