PatternSkin CSS Cookbook

Questions and answers on how to customize the default look of Foswiki for your own needs, using style sheets. For configuring page elements, see PatternSkinCustomization.

First Read: How to modify PatternSkin styles

PatternSkin uses 3 style sheets (attached to PatternSkinTheme):

• layout.css - the positioning of main page elements (blocks), widths and heights
• style.css - fonts, sizes, margins and paddings
• colors.css - border colors, text colors and background colors

When customizing your Foswiki installation, you can either choose to completely rewrite all css styles, or to selectively override some styles. The latter option is by far less time consuming, but all depends on your graphical wishes.

Changing the color scheme

Have a look at PatternSkinColorSettings.

When you need lots of graphic changes: Rewriting CSS

• Create a new topic that will contain your new CSS files
• Attach 3 new style sheets to the topic
• Point the CSS preference settings in System.DefaultPreferences or User.SitePreferences to your new files:

   * Set FOSWIKI_LAYOUT_URL = %PUBURLPATH%/%SYSTEMWEB%/YourNewTopic/layout.css
   * Set FOSWIKI_STYLE_URL = %PUBURLPATH%/%SYSTEMWEB%/YourNewTopic/style.css
   * Set FOSWIKI_COLORS_URL = %PUBURLPATH%/%SYSTEMWEB%/YourNewTopic/colors.css

When you need to make small adjustments: Adding to existing CSS

With CSS you cannot remove already defined classes, you can only add to it, or override existing styles.
Overriding default CSS is done with 3 preference settings: USERLAYOUTURL, USERSTYLEURL, USERCOLORSURL.

• Create a new topic that will contain your new CSS files
• Attach 1, 2 or 3 new style sheets to the topic, dependent on your CSS setup (if you don't change much, you might as well put everything in one CSS file, layout, margins and colors)
• Point the CSS preference settings in System.DefaultPreferences or User.SitePreferences to your new files (below the USERXXXURL preferences):

   * Set USERLAYOUTURL = %PUBURLPATH%/%SYSTEMWEB%/YourNewTopic/layout.css
   * Set USERSTYLEURL = %PUBURLPATH%/%SYSTEMWEB%/YourNewTopic/style.css
   * Set USERCOLORSURL = %PUBURLPATH%/%SYSTEMWEB%/YourNewTopic/colors.css

• If you use only little CSS and you've only attached one file, write:

   * Set USERSTYLEURL = %PUBURLPATH%/%SYSTEMWEB%/YourNewTopic/style.css

Instead of setting these preferences in System.DefaultPreferences or User.SitePreferences, you can set these in your home topic, or in any other topic. Setting style URL preferences in:

• System.DefaultPreferences or User.SitePreferences: the style is visible for all users, site-wide
• WebPreferences: the style is visible for all users in one web
• Home topic: the style is visible for that one user when viewing the site
• Some other topic: the style is only visible in that one topic

User styles are always loaded after Foswiki styles.

The rest of this topic shows examples of small CSS changes.

Recipes

Hide the left bar

See example at: PatternSkinCssCookbookNoLeftBar

Use different fonts

See example at: PatternSkinCssCookbookFonts

I want to change the height of the top bar

This is the complete style definition to set the height of the top bar:

#patternTopBar,
#patternClearHeaderCenter,
#patternClearHeaderLeft,
#patternClearHeaderRight,
#patternTopBarContents {
   height:75px; /* top bar height; make room for header columns */
   overflow:hidden;
}

Change the number from 75px to your value.

1. Create a new stylesheet (preferably a 'theme variant' file (see for instance https://nats-www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/pub/System/PatternSkinTheme/variant_foswiki_noframe.css with above definition in it)
2. Attach the file to a topic
3. Set the value of macro PATTERNSKIN_THEME_VARIANT to that topic attachment url using %PUBURL%/YourWebName/YourTopicName/your_theme_variant_file.css

Note: If using %WEBHEADERART% to customize the top bar, some #patternTopBarContents CSS is expanded inline from templates/css.pattern.tmpl. Override of some attributes, such as background color and repeat are not possible from the CSS files.

No top bar

See example

Centered page

See example

Centered page (with a border around the page)

See example

Sidebar background color

See example

Setting EditTablePlugin styles

See example

Style sheet documentation

• See PatternSkinCss for documentation of PatternSkin CSS classes
• See AppendixCascadingStyleSheets for documentation of Foswiki CSS classes