PatternSkin - TWiki - The Caboteria

---+!! Pattern skin

*<nop>PatternSkin is developed to provide a CSS based default look and feel for TWiki - flexible and W3C-compliant.* Its layout and color scheme are designed to provide a nice, clean and productive _editing environment_. For use in corporate or perhaps in personal websites it should be fairly easy to tune the looks or even create a !PatternSkin-based new skin.

%TOC{title="Page contents"}%

---++ Screen Shot

<a href="%ATTACHURL%/patternskin_screenshot_full.png"><img src="%ATTACHURL%/patternskin_screenshot.gif" style="border:1px solid #eee;" alt="Click for full screen image" width="600" height="130" /></a>
<!--
%SEARCH{ "%TOPIC%" scope="topic" nosearch="on" nototal="on" format="$pattern(.*\| *Screenshot\:[^\|]*\|([^\|]*).*)" }%
<div class="twikiGrayText">Click to view full screenshot</div>-->

---++ Supported browsers

!PatternSkin has been tested succesfully on the following browsers:
   * Windows
      * Internet Explorer 6.0, 5.5 (note: Explorer 5.0 is *not* supported: will function but shows visual quirks)
      * Mozilla/Firefox
   * Mac OS X
      * Safari 1.2
      * Mozilla/Firefox

Not tested, but will probably work (let me know):
   * *nix
      * Mozilla/Firefox

---++ Installation

*Note:* You do not need to install anything on the browser to use this skin. The following instructions are for the administrator who installs the skin on the server where TWiki is running.

*Note 2:* !PatternSkin is included with TWiki by default. Use the following instructions only if you are upgrading !PatternSkin.

   * Download the ZIP file from the Skin Home page (see below)
   * Unzip ==%TOPIC%.zip== in your twiki installation directory
   * Test if installed: %SCRIPTURL%/view%SCRIPTSUFFIX%/%WEB%/%TOPIC%?skin=pattern
   * For skin activation see %TWIKIWEB%.TWikiSkins

---+++ Troubleshooting

If you have set the SKIN variable setting to =pattern= and you still don't see the layout as on the <a href="%ATTACHURL%/patternskin_screenshot_full.png">screenshot</a>, a few settings in may have been disabled.

Check these variables here:
   * TWIKILAYOUTURL = %TWIKILAYOUTURL%
   * TWIKISTYLEURL = %TWIKISTYLEURL%
   * SKIN = %SKIN%

If TWIKILAYOUTURL or TWIKISTYLEURL don't give a value or point to non-existing files, check in TWiki.TWikiPreferences that the following variables do exist and that they are set to on:
<pre>
   * %<nop>TWIKIWEB%.PatternSkin settings:
      * <nop>Set TWIKILAYOUTURL = %<nop>PUBURL%/%<nop>TWIKIWEB%/PatternSkin/layout.css
      * <nop>Set TWIKISTYLEURL = %<nop>PUBURL%/%<nop>TWIKIWEB%/PatternSkin/style.css
</pre>

If this still does not work, contact the administrator who installs skins.

For further troubleshooting and feedback, go to TWiki:Plugins/PatternSkinDev.

---++ Creating your own look

It is easy to tune the look and feel of !PatternSkin by changing the color and space (margin, padding) settings in the Style Sheet files. 

You may also choose to radically change the look and create a !PatternSkin-based new skin. This is easier than to create a skin by writing new template files; you can concentrate on how things should look instead of what elements should get displayed.

You can eiter:
   * Change the =layout.css= and =style.css= attachment files for this topic (upload updated versions)
   * In TWiki.TWikiPreferences, point the variables =TWIKILAYOUTURL= and =TWIKISTYLEURL= to other attachments, perhaps in another topic (your new skin topic?)

If you want to change colors and white space of screen elements, modify =style.css=. %BR%
If you want to change the positioning of screen elements, modify =layout.css=.

See for practical details: PatternSkinCustomization %BR%
The CSS classes that !PatternSkin uses are documented in PatternSkinCss.

---++ Customization

See: PatternSkinCustomization

---++ Further reading

   * PatternSkinCustomization - Practical information on how to change the looks of !PatternSkin
   * PatternSkinCss - A reference to used CSS classes
   * TWiki:Plugins/PatternSkinDev - Development page, bug reports, solutions from users

---++ Skin Info

|  Description: | Provides a CSS based default look and feel for TWiki - flexible and W3C-compliant |
|  Screenshot: | <a href="%ATTACHURL%/patternskin_screenshot_full.png"><img src="%ATTACHURL%/patternskin_screenshot.gif" style="border:1px solid #eee;" alt="Click for full screen image" width="600" height="130" /></a> |
|  Base Name: | pattern |
|  Skin Author: | TWiki:Main/ArthurClemens |
|  Skin Version: | 08 Aug 2004 (v1.000) |
|  Download&nbsp;<nop>PatternSkin: | [[%ATTACHURL%/PatternSkin.zip][PatternSkin.zip]]<br /> *Note:* the CSS files in this topic may be more recent than the version in the zip file | 
|  Change History: | <!-- specify latest version first -->&nbsp; |
|  16 Aug 2004: | v.1.0.4 - Fixes search results layout with noheader="on" |
|  14 Aug 2004: | v.1.0.3 - Update to attach template, css fix to edit template |
|  14 Aug 2004: | v.1.0.2 - Fixes print template, table paddings in topics, minor changes to style.css |
|  13 Aug 2004: | v.1.0.1 - Updated /data/TWiki/WebLeftBarPersonalTemplate and style.css |
|  08 Aug 2004: | Initial version (v1.000) |
|  Dependencies: | TWiki.TablePlugin |
|  Skin Home: | http://TWiki.org/cgi-bin/view/Plugins/%TOPIC% |
|  Feedback: | http://TWiki.org/cgi-bin/view/Plugins/%TOPIC%Dev |

---++ Related topics

   * TWikiCss
   * WebBottomBar
   * WebLeftBar
   * WebLeftBarExample
   * WebLeftBarPersonalTemplate
   * WebLeftBarCookbook
   * WebTopBar

See also [[%TOPIC%#Further_reading][Further reading]] on this page.

Other skins:
   * TWikiSkins
   * TWikiSkinBrowser

---++ Feedback

Leave remarks, suggestions and other feedback in TWiki:Plugins.PatternSkinDev.

-- TWiki:Main/ArthurClemens - 16 Aug 2004
Attachments
Topic attachments
I	Attachment	Action	Size	Date	Who	Comment
gif	i_arrow_down.gif	manage	0.1 K	16 Aug 2004 - 01:41	UnknownUser	Icon: down arrow; used for Table Of Contents
css	layout.css	manage	1.7 K	16 Aug 2004 - 01:42	UnknownUser	Layout: positioning of page elements
css	style.css	manage	25.4 K	16 Aug 2004 - 05:12	UnknownUser	Style: appearance: margins, fonts, colors