Use Case: Change Default Site Skin -

Actor: Site Designer

Goal: Keep the site fresh and interesting for end users

Skins encapsulate presentation information for a site. Users can customize their interactions with a site by selecting a custom skin. If a user does not select their own skin of preference they will use the default skin. By setting the default skin you are effectively controlling how the site looks to new users.

To set the default skin for a CMF site:

Visit the CMF Site object in the ZMI.
Go to the portal_skins tool.
Select the Properties view.
Select a default skin from the Default skin selection.
Click Save.

You can also control some other skins features from the Properties view.

You can define a new skin as described in Create a new skin. You can also set some advanced skin options with the form at the bottom of the page:

Default skin: Sets the default site skin. This form element has already been described.
REQUEST variable name: This is a wizard-level setting. Don't touch it unless you really know what you're doing. It basically allows you to control how the CMF keeps track of skin information internally.
Skin flexibility: This is a wizard-level setting. Don't touch it unless you really know what you're doing. It allows you to dynamically re-order skin layers on a per-request basis. This setting can be useful for skin debugging.
Skin Cookie persistence: This is an advanced option. Set this option if and your CMF site is configured to authenticate users using persistent cookies without requiring them to log in. Normally user skins are set when users log in. If you don't require users to log in, then you need to set this control so that their skin preferences work correctly.