Changing skins (Sage to Ninja or something else)?

For some reason, when our site was set up, Sage was used as the skin (we migrated from Ning to JR). Now I'm looking at the Ninja skin and it's looking pretty good. But being a tech-baby, I'm not sure what I should be thinking about as I contemplate changing skins. So here are some questions I have... talk amongst yourselves...

1. What should I be looking for in terms of using a new skin? What are the deciding factors you use when you pick a skin?

2. If we switch skins, what will be lost? Will we lose any content? Will it automatically be moved to the correct places?

3. Is there a way to test out the new skin with our current content without users seeing it until we confirm that's what we want?

4. Are some skins "easier" for tech-babies? Which skins do you like and why?

5. What else do I need to know?
updated by @abcd-in-action: 07/10/19 08:08:28PM

#1 Choosing a skin is based on personal preference when it comes to style and look of the skin. Some skins have some built in focus, but for the most part, they all offer the same things as the modules are what run the features.

#2 All skins are free. There is no cost to switch skins.

#3 We always recommend users create dev sites for testing and development. You can do this in your hosting settings. I recommend you just create a sub domain like this dev.yoursitename.com with your site name being your current domain name.

#4 all the skins are pretty much the same. It's really just a personal preference. Some will require a little setup and this is why we recommend a development site.

#5 with a dev site you'll have a lot more confidence in your choices.

No site content will be lost when switching skins. The only difference is that some skins may, by default, show different content on the homepages, dependent upon their focus, but all user/profile content will still be on the profile pages, whatever skin you choose.

Otherwise, what Nate says above.
hth


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Paul Asher - JR Developer and System Import Specialist

I mistakenly read #2. Sorry about that.

Like you ABCD, I was a total code-infant when I migrated my 8yr old Ning site to Jamroom several years ago now. It's just my own opinion, but I'd recommend using the Ninja skin simply because things will be in sort of familiar places for you already- the layout and functions are meant to echo the basic ning setup. But know that you can tailor/change/customize whichever skin you wind up with in thousands of ways- it can really look like anything you want.

Word of advise- DON'T customize the base skin itself (like Sage or Ninja). Instead, make a CLONE of the base skin and name it (maybe with the date). Make your clone the 'active' skin and do all your customizing on that clone. You'll be very glad you did that later, because it'll mean that skin updates don't wind up wiping out custom work you did on your clone active skin. READ THIS!:
https://www.jamroom.net/the-jamroom-network/documentation/skin-design-guide/839/creating-your-own-skin-clone-from-an-existing-skin


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...just another satisfied Jamroom customer.
Migrated from Ning to Jamroom June 2015

Thank you all! I look forward to playing with this.

Deb