require('template.inc.php'); <p>Skins
are
not
now
and
will
never
be
in
Gaim's
default
GTK+
UI.
GTK
themes,
however,
are
supported,
as
per
the
Gaim
FAQ.
This
confuses
many
users,
so
an
attempt
at
explanation
follows.
</p><p>Themes
allow
you
to
change
font
size,
font
face,
the
color
of
different
elements
of
the
UI,
and
sometimes
their
shape.
All
of
this
is
perfectly
reasonable,
and
encompasses
the
range
of
configuration
that
<i>most
</i> users
are
requesting.
Skins
go
beyond
this.
Skins
allow
you
to
move
and
possibly
supress
different
elements
of
the
UI
that
the
programmers
have
added
for
specific
<p>In
so
doing,
skins
create
a
support
nightmare.
The
developer,
talking
to
the
user,
cannot
be
sure
that
the
user
sees
the
same
interface.
Is
it
a
bug
that
the
user
cannot
see
how
to
change
font
size,
or
is
the
user's
skin
suppressing
that
widget?
This
is
an
unacceptable
situation.
</p><p>Conversely,
while
themes
allow
some
sillyness,
for
instance
setting
the
background
to
the
same
color
as
the
font,
the
results
are
relatively
easily
foreseen
and
avoided
by
theme
authors.
Further,
by
using
the
existing
GTK
theme
mechanism,
we
gain
two
advantages:
</p><li>We
don't
have
to
write
it
ourselves.
Were
we
to
write
our
own
mechanism,
we
would
be
adding
overhead
in
both
the
run
time
and
the
time
necessary
to
debug.
</li><li>We
have
a
built
in
way
of
debugging
theme
problems,
by
checking
if
the
same
bug
exists
with
other
GTK
programs.
</li><p>Lastly,
since
GTK
themes
only
allow
acceptable
modifications,
we
do
not
have
to
worry
that
a
user
isn't
seeing
part
of
the
UI
because
it
is
either
showing
or
not
showing
<i>because
of
our
code
</i>.
</p>
