How to Create a MediaWiki Skin Based on the MonoBook Skin

Step-by-Step Guide

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   Step 1: Create a new directory named monobookmodified in the skins directory which is in the root directory of your MediaWiki installation.

   It is important to create the directory with all-small-letters and not use capital letters in the name of the directory even if your skin's name does have them.
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   Step 2: Copy all files in skins/monobook into the skins/monobookmodified directory.

   ,,,,, Change something simple in the style-sheet (the easiest is to replace the color of headers by changing the h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6 item color from "black" to say "blue") , Change the skin to the new skin and reload your page.
   
   Headers should now display in blue (or any color you choose earlier) , This skin was modified from the original MonoBook skin in background color and by adding a second toolbar at the bottom of each article.
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   Step 3: Create a new text file in the skins directory and name it MonoBookModified.php

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   Step 4: Copy all the contents of MonoBook.php into the MonoBookModified.php file.

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   Step 5: Open the MonoBookModified.php file in a text/php editor such as Notepad

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   Step 6: Notepad++

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   Step 7: Dreamweaver

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   Step 8: Kate or any other editor capable of searching and replacing text!

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   Step 9: Find and replace code in MonoBookModified.php as mentioned in the Code Replacement section of this article.

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    Step 10: Go to the skins/monobookmodified directory and open the file main.css in a text editor (or any program for editing style-sheets).

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    Step 11: Open the MediaWiki site you've been editing in a web browser and go to the preferences page.

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    Step 12: Start modifying the main.css file to change the styles of the new skin.

Detailed Guide

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