Author: David Granjon
Date: 2025-08-25

# Improved Skins

#### David Granjon

#### 2025-08-25

## A Real Time Skin Selector

`{bs4Dash}` has a new feature called the `skinSelector()`. This is a JavaScript based widget allowing the end user to change the app skin. There are 20 unique colors with 2 versions, light or dark. Note that the `dashboardControlbar()` is the perfect place to host the `skinSelector()`.

## Fresh

`{fresh}` is developed by the dreamRs team. It is built on top of `{sass}`, which provides a solid R API to write SASS variables and compile into CSS. `{fresh}` captures most of the AdminLTE2 (as well as AdminLTE3 for Bootstrap 4) SASS variables to allow deep customization, hiding all the compilation burden under the hood.

`bs4dash_color()` and `bs4Dash_status()` provide an interface to all available AdminLTE colors and allow to overwrite the default. I strongly suggest to avoid setting the default green to blue, as it might become confusing. Instead, it is better to play with color palettes. `bs4dash_sidebar_light()` allows to re-style the sidebar component, `bs4dash_layout()` controls the main background color, `bs4dash_yiq()` fine tune the global contrast and `bs4dash_vars()` offers deeper customization (navbar, …). The fresh theme below is based on some dark theme color palettes.