The Appearance Manager allows the board administrator to select a skin that is applied to the entire board. In a case where finer control is desired, it is possible to choose a separate skin for each topic through the copying of files, with telnet/SSH/FTP access to the server.

The following is a safe procedure for applying a customized skin to a particular topic. Following these recommendations will help guard against data loss caused by an incorrectly edited skin.

1. Develop the customized skin. Typically, you will copy the default skin for the board and make your changes based on that skin. Sometimes, you will start from a different skin that you obtained from the skin gallery or with your board. Almost never will you start from scratch and write a completely new skin.

2. Rename the edited file. At this point, it is assumed that the skin is on your own computer and that you will be transferring it to the server by FTP. A customized skin must be named default.tmpl. Rename the customized file to that name.

3. Create a test topic. DiscusWare recommends that you NEVER try out a skin for the first time on actual live data on your board. To this end, go to Topic Manager and add a new topic.

4. Determine the topic's number. Go to the board and click on the topic. Look in the browser's address bar (or, if you have frames, look at the page properties). The URL will be of a format ending in the following: ..../messages/1234/1234.html?#########. The topic's number in the example given here would be 1234 - that is the name of both the directory and the first page in the topic.

5. Transfer the file to the topic's directory. Using FTP, transfer the edited default.tmpl file into the topic's directory, which in the example above would be "messages/1234". Note that if you are using Discus Pro and have a read-restricted topic, the directory will be found under the "secure" folder.

6. Regenerate the topic. Go to Appearance Manager - Regeneration and choose to regenerate the newly created topic. This will apply the new skin to that topic. Verify that the topic was regenerated properly, and do some extra testing, before continuing.

7. Make a backup. Before applying any changes, make a backup of your entire board. In Discus Pro, a "minimal backup" with the Backup Manager is sufficient.

8. Apply the skin to the real topic. Using the real topic instead of the test one, repeat steps 4-6 above to transfer the skin into the actual topic. Once you're done, you may wish to delete the test topic, or use it to test out other custom skins.