ATRC: Fluid Skinning System

The Fluid Skinning System  (previously "TransformAble/Stylable")  is a group of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) files with a specially designed modular structure and class-specific format. It is currently in development at the Adaptive Technology Resource Center (ATRC) as a part of the Fluid suite of components.

It is meant to work well as both a standalone CSS foundation for your site and our Fluid components, and as the CSS engine of the User Interface Options component.

The Goals for FSS

With FSS and User Interface Options, we are attempting to fulfill at least 2 requirements:

• How can the user control the appearance of our components and/or a website to make it more usable for them?
• How can we deliver a look-n-feel for our components?

These requirements share a common foundation: CSS.

How FSS works

FSS was designed from the ground up to be a completely modular CSS framework, where you can add, remove, and mix classnames to get the desired effect.

If you use FSS CSS from the onset of your website's lifecycle and plan with it in mind, then you should be able to be up and running with little effort.
You could try to use the FSS CSS to layout your entire site, or you could use the classnames without the style data in tandem with your existing CSS to help the UI Options component do a better job of making your site more customizable. You should always put any FSS classnames at the beginning of the class attribute.
However, the system is not detailed enough to deliver detailed presentations. The idea is to plug in the holes where you need to with your own CSS or edit the FSS files.

FSS CSS is also designed to hook into Fluid Components and give them a basic default appearance.

Get Involved

Contact the owner(s) through the project's website to learn about involvement opportunities:  Fluid Skinning System.