Forum:Custom workaround for Monobook as default skin for wiki site

I have to believe that some fan of the Monobook skin has figured out what to paste into the style sheet at http:// WIKINAME .wikia.com/wiki/MediaWiki:Monaco.css to faithfully emulate the Monobook skin and so allow that to be specified as the site default skin via:


 * Admin Options
 * Set the default theme for this wiki: Custom


 * For custom themes, select the "custom" option in the menu above and specify custom CSS in MediaWiki:Monaco.css.

I have read Help:Customizing_skins and none of the advice or examples at Help:Customizing Monaco or Help:Examples of customized Monobook skins provided this seemingly obvious workaround.


 * If you have successfully used this workaround then please share that style sheet inside ..  tags here.
 * If you've tried this workaround and it went SNAFU then please advise.

Najevi 18:24, 21 May 2008 (UTC)


 * If you want monobook as the default skin for a wiki, edit MediaWiki:AdminSkin and change the text of that page to monobook. GHe (Talk) 21:00, 21 May 2008 (UTC)

Thank you. That worked like a charm!
 * Najevi 23:10, 21 May 2008 (UTC)

Affirmative. ;-) Are there more fancy MediaWiki:SomeThing pages that allow to change features and looks? --w-sky 00:21, 27 May 2008 (UTC)
 * Yes, quite a lot of them. See Special:Allmessages for a listing. -- Skiz zerz  00:58, 27 May 2008 (UTC)

This workaround is a bug, not a feature, and is likely to be fixed soon. We aren't offering monobook as a default skin for most wikis at the moment. The MediaWiki:AdminSkin workaround relies on the system not recognising the skin name, and so falling back to an internal default. Once that's fixed, it will fall back to Monaco rather than Monobook. -- sannse (talk) 14:09, 27 May 2008 (UTC)


 * Well okay, or not. What do you recommend then to do for changing the default skin of a wiki? If I (as wiki administrator) change the skin in preferences, it will only be effective while I am logged in. Not logged in users will still see Monaco, which I don't like, because the Google ads are too obtrusive on top of the page, and not clearly seperated from the wiki content. --w-sky 15:42, 27 May 2008 (UTC)