+It is possible to customise the site CSS and JavaScript without editing any
+source files. This is done by editing some pages on the wiki:
+
+* [[MediaWiki:Common.css]] -- for skin-independent CSS
+* [[MediaWiki:Monobook.css]], [[MediaWiki:Simple.css]], etc. -- for
+skin-dependent CSS
+* [[MediaWiki:Common.js]], [[MediaWiki:Monobook.js]], etc. -- for custom
+site JavaScript
+
+These can also be customised on a per-user basis, by editing
+[[User:<name>/monobook.css]], [[User:<name>/monobook.js]], etc.
+
+This feature has led to a wide variety of "user styles" becoming available,
+which change the appearance of Monobook or MySkin:
+
+http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Gallery_of_user_styles
+
+If you want a different look for your wiki, that gallery is a good place to start.
+
+== Drop-in custom skins ==
+
+If you put a file in MediaWiki's skins directory, ending in .php, the name of
+the file will automatically be added as a skin name, and the file will be
+expected to contain a class called Skin<name> with the skin class. You can then
+make that skin the default by adding to LocalSettings.php:
+
+$wgDefaultSkin = '<name>';
+
+You can also disable dropped-in or core skins using:
+
+$wgSkipSkins[] = '<name>';
+
+This technique is used by the more ambitious MediaWiki site operators, to
+create complex custom skins for their wikis. It should be preferred over
+editing the core Monobook skin directly.
+
+See http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Skinning for more information.
+
+== Extension skins ==
+
+It is now possible (since MediaWiki 1.12) to write a skin as a standard
+MediaWiki extension, enabled via LocalSettings.php. This is done by adding
+it to $wgValidSkinNames, for example:
+
+$wgValidSkinNames['mycoolskin'] = 'MyCoolSkin';
+
+and then registering a class in $wgAutoloadClasses called SkinMycoolSkin, which
+derives from Skin. This technique is apparently not yet used (as of 2008)
+outside the DumpHTML extension.