View source for DrumCorpsWiki:Customisation

'''Customisation''' allows users to tailor DrumCorpsWiki a to suit their own preferred style.  It mostly allows for changes in the way pages are displayed, but there are also many functional tweaks that some editors find useful when editing articles.

The [[Special:Preferences|preferences]] link, available on the menu of a [[DrumCorpsWiki:How to log in|logged-in user]], allows you to change most of the options that you will require.  This is fully explained at [[m:Help:Preferences|Help:Preferences]] on Meta-Wiki.

==User name and signatures==

Your [[DrumCorpsWiki:username|username]] is displayed in the edit histories of all the articles you contribute to and is linked to your user and talk pages.  You choose your name when you first register on Wikipedia and it is usual to stay with the same name throughout your time on the project, though it is possible to [[DrumCorpsWiki:Changing username|request a change of username]].

Signatures are customised using the preferences under "User data" where they are referred to as your "Nickname".  You should always [[DrumCorpsWiki:Sign your posts on talk pages|sign your posts on talk pages]] and many users choose to customise the way their signature appears.

You can use any wikitext as your nickname. If "Raw signatures (without automatic link)" is unchecked, the software enters "<nowiki>[[User:Name|</nowiki>" in front of, and "]]" after your nickname wikitext.

===Adding a link to your talk page===
Perhaps the most common signature choice is to add a link to your talk page.  To do so, add "<nowiki>[[User:Name]] | [[User talk:Name|Talk]]</nowiki>" as your signature.  Be sure to check "Raw signature", as this is necessary for the software to recognize the markup.  The result will look like this:  [[Name]] | [[Talk]].

The separator is optional, but some way of visually distinguishing your nickname from any additional links is advisable.

===More complicated options===
When you check the 'raw signatures' box, you specify that full wikitext is to be used between the two dashes and the timestamp. This gives more versatility, and in cases like above the code is less cryptic.

You can also include font tags, images, and templates. Note that changes in the images and templates are retroactive, which on one hand may be confusing, but on the other hand, to rectify annoying signatures, may be convenient. To avoid retroactivity, use a new image or template name. Do not create a signature template in the article or template namespace: instead use a subpage of your own userpage such as '''sig''', and link it with "<nowiki>{{User:Name/sig}}</nowiki>". '''Using a template like this, however, is not recommended, as it increases the transclusion overhead for talk pages'''.

See also [[DrumCorpsWiki:How to fix your signature]].

== Skins ==

A MediaWiki skin is a style of page display. There are differences in the HTML code the system produces (but probably not in the page body), and also different style sheets ([[Wikipedia:CSS|CSS]]) are used.

The default is the MonoBook skin.

The special page [[Special:Preferences|My Preferences]] offers a
preview of the various skins for the [[Main page]]. This is not
exactly interesting for typical articles, therefore here's a
list of previews for this page:

{| cellpadding="10" border="1"
| <tt>[http://www.drumcorpswiki.com/index.php?useskin=monobook&title=DrumCorpsWiki:Customisation monobook]</tt> (default)
| <tt>[http://www.drumcorpswiki.com/index.php?useskin=cologneblue&title=DrumCorpsWiki:Customisation cologneblue]</tt>
| <tt>[http://www.drumcorpswiki.com/index.php?useskin=myskin&title=DrumCorpsWiki:Customisation myskin]</tt>
| <tt>[http://www.drumcorpswiki.com/index.php?useskin=amethyst&title=DrumCorpsWiki:Customisation amethyst]</tt>
|-
| <tt>[http://www.drumcorpswiki.com/index.php?useskin=standard&title=DrumCorpsWiki:Customisation standard]</tt> (classic)
| <tt>[http://www.drumcorpswiki.com/index.php?useskin=nostalgia&title=DrumCorpsWiki:Customisation nostalgia]</tt>
| <tt>[http://www.drumcorpswiki.com/index.php?useskin=simple&title=DrumCorpsWiki:Customisation simple]</tt>
| <tt>[http://www.drumcorpswiki.com/index.php?useskin=chick&title=DrumCorpsWiki:Customisation chick]</tt>
|}

To test other pages replace <tt>title=DrumCorpsWiki:Customisation</tt>
in the URL. For legacy [[Wikipedia:Web browser|Web browser]]s
not supporting CSS <tt>amethyst</tt> is apparently
a good choice. For modern browsers the default 
<tt>monobook</tt> offers a wide range of user 
customisations.


''The original source of this article is from [[Wikipedia:|Wikipedia]], used under the terms of the [[Wikipedia:GFDL]]. See this article's [[DrumCorpsWIki:Talk pages|Talk page]] for details.''