Skin comparison

Skin comments lifted from NiceSite -- ArthurClemens - 22 Apr 2005

There are many nice skins available for Twiki (see TWiki:Plugins/SkinPackage), I selected some:

Skin name	Example	More details, screenshots	Design goals, Comments	Complete	Uses "twiki" base
Caboteria	here	TWiki:Plugins/CaboteriaSkinDev	simple, CSS-driven layout	No. View only	No. View is pure HTML
Flexible	here	TWiki:Plugins/FlexibleSkin	Change look by editing special pages (sidebars)
GNU	here	TWiki:Plugins/GnuSkin	with additional area on the left margin of the page
Koala	here	TWiki:Plugins/KoalaSkin	skin for huge sites with multilevel design	Yes	Mostly
Photon		TWiki:Plugins/PhotonSkin	Much improved search
See		TWiki:Plugins/SeeSkin	Fully CSS	Mostly	Yes
Seetoo		http://maphew.freeshell.org/	Fully CSS, dev version of See	Mostly	Yes
Tiger		TWiki:Codev/TigerSkin	"Mother of all new skins"	Mostly	Yes
Hobbes	here	TWiki:Plugins/HobbesSkinDev	TigerSkin version 2	beta	Yes
LKF	here		Slight layout change from default, uses CSS for basic formatting	Yes	Yes
Void	here	TWiki:Plugins/VoidSkin	Minimum of graphics, CSS-styles
UMM	here		Not yet released as a skin
Pattern	here	PatternSkin	Usability	Default TWiki skin	Yes
NatSkin	here	NatSkin	reworked version of CopyCatSkin and MovableType	Yes	No

Pro/con:

• Caboteria:
  • con: no outside users?
  • con: deosn't follow pattern of skins, view only and is jsut HTML
• Flexible:
  • pro: excellent flexibility
• GNU:
• Koala:
  • pro: multiple webs in groups, excellent support of web hierarchies (subwebs) and hidden webs. compiled generation allows potential wide customisation, and faster operation. Easy upgrade, fairly actively maintained. Valid HTML+CSS, works with all browsers. Alls prefs centralised in one topic. Not just a skin, incorporates also current useful bug fixes. Complete set of templates. Nice look & feel, with powerful features made easily available.
  • con: You should to be able to run a shell (bash) script on site for ease of use. Initial setup more complex than other skins. Long wait times for response from skin maintainers. Does not yet support DakarRelease. Appears to have some trouble with TWikiForms.
• Photon
• See:
  • Con: menu on bottom
• Seetoo:
  • pro: menu on top, but there are glitches with some browsers which remain to be worked out.
  • pro: menu on top is "always visible"
  • pro: maximises use of screen real-estate for the topic body
• Tiger:
  • pro: many neat features - might be ported to other skins?
  • con: Not maintained? The original TigerSkin is not maintained, but the version-two-release codenamed HobbesSkinDev is being maintained. [ TorbenGB - 01 Jun 2003 ]
• Void:
• LKF:
  • pro: fairly complete
  • pro: clean, simple
• UMM:
  • con: not released yet as a skin package
• Pattern:
  • Default TWiki skin
  • pro:
  • con:
• NatSkin:
  • pro:
    • high configurability on several levels
    • improved usability
    • improved navigation
    • improved template logic to ease mix-ins
    • integrated wikiwyg editor
    • lots of different themes and headerbar artwork for professional non-wiki like styles
    • emulates look&feel of TWiki (PatternSkin/Cairo), WordPress, MovableType, JotSpot and more
    • theme browser for instant theme switching
    • high integration with BlogPlugin
  • con: needs a couple of supplemental plugins

-- PeterMasiar - 26 May 2003

Is there an updated version of this rather important topic?

-- SvenDowideit - 13 Dec 2006

Not with appraisal. But we have the list of SkinPackages.

-- PeterThoeny - 13 Dec 2006

I've updated the pros & cons of the KoalaSkin

-- KeithHelfrich - 14 Dec 2006