The new default skin (and how to switch back :)

With the Q2 release, we have decided it is time to refresh the look and feel of RadControls components to stay on the edge of the latest trends in visual design for the web. And ever since Vista, black is the new white… so we just had to join in with a trendy new theme for the default skins of our controls. The Q2 2007 skin sports a modern black twist, improved contrast, and larger font-sizes/more generous white space for a touch of web2.0 in your applications.



While we ardently urge everyone to switch to the new look, we do realize that work in progress might require that you upgrade to the latest version of a component but continue to use its old default skin – rest assured we’ve made it easy for you. I blogged about the upcoming change some time ago and based on your feedback we have decided to leave the old default skin in the Q2 build. It has been renamed to “Default2006” skin and you can continue to use it for all of your projects. You have two ways to switch back to the old default look:

1. Upgrading a single component/page
   If your project has a limited number of RadControls components, you can simply go through each instance and add a Skin=”Default2006” property to each tag. For example, if you have a RadGrid in your page that looks like: <radg:radgrid id="RadGrid1">, you should change that to <radg:radgrid Skin=”Default2006” id="RadGrid1">

2. Upgrading all components within an application
   For larger projects with many instances of RadControls components, you can set the skin of all components directly from the Web.Config file of the application. You will need to add the following code to the web.config:
   
   

   <configuration>
   <appSettings>
   <add key="Telerik.WebControls.Skin" value="Default2006"/>
   </appSettings>
   </configuration>

   The Skin property in the tag of a component (e.g. <radg:radgrid Skin=”Default” id="RadGrid1">) will overwrite this setting, so you need to make sure that no Skin properties are explicitly set to the components in your project.

*Note: in both cases, if you are not using the embedded skins of RadControls, you will also need to copy the new RadControls folder from the Q2 distribution to the root of your application. If you don't know what an embedded skin is, then chances are you are using one, so no need to worry about this.

We’ve tried hard to make this change as easy as possible for you. Apologies to all who will need to take a few extra steps to bring back their existing applications to the previous look, we hope you will ultimately appreciate the improved looks in your next project!

Please note that the Default2006 skin will be deprecated as of our next release and you while it will still be available as a separate download, we will not continue to support it.