Some of you may be familiar with the [Spacemodo skin](http://komodoide.com/packages/skins/spacemodo/) I did a while ago (almost 2 years ago, it seems). My mission with that skin was to give Komodo a lightweight skin, but I quickly realized that I should have focussed on making the CSS code as lightweight as the appearance. Spacemodo ended up being a dead end; the look itself was solid, but it inherited too many redundant and bulky CSS rules.

I have experimented with different approaches since then, but it wasn’t until a few weekends ago that I finally dedicated some real time to a proper, clean slate re-skin of Komodo. What does this mean? Well I wanted to dump 90% of the CSS rules that Komodo was using, and re-invent them from the ground up using only the most basic styling required. The end result is a skin aptly named Tabula Rasa (latin for “blank slate”). The skin itself is a vehicle… That is, it’s a vehicle on which anyone can develop their future skins. Of course it needs to look decent, but that’s not the main intent. Its main intent is to provide a solid foundation.


Tabula Rasa has one particular feature that I know many of you will enjoy; the ability to change its colors. When you are using the Tabula Rasa skin, a new section will become visible in your Appearance preferences where you can pick the colors for your skin. You can then export these colors should you wish to share them with others.


I’ve already done this for a few recolors, have a look:

* [Abyss for TabulaRasa](http://komodoide.com/packages/skins/abyss-for-tabularasa/)
* [Ceti2 for TabulaRasa](http://komodoide.com/packages/skins/ceti2-for-tabularasa/)
* [LondonTube-Light for TabulaRasa](http://komodoide.com/packages/skins/londontube-light-for-tabularasa/)
* [Spacemodo for TabulaRasa](http://komodoide.com/packages/skins/spacemodo-for-tabularasa/)
* [Tomorrow-Dark for TabulaRasa](http://komodoide.com/packages/skins/tomorrow-dark-for-tabularasa/)

I look forward to using YOUR contributions! That’s what this is all about for me and the rest of the Komodo team.

Tabula Rasa is currently still in an alpha stage, so keep this in mind if you decide to install it. I intend to eventually replace the default Komodo skin with Tabula Rasa. Before you scream murder, though, keep in mind what I said before: Tabula Rasa is a foundation, it tries not to be biased towards what Komodo will actually end up looking like. So if/when Komodo does adopt Tabula Rasa by default, its visual appearance may be completely different from what you see now. It may in fact not differ at all from Komodo’s current appearance, aside from being faster and more stable.

## Installation

**Warning:** This skin should be considered experimental and will have issues.

You can download the skin straight from our Packages section; just click the button below. If you are running Komodo 9.2 you can just install it using the package installer in Commando.