Skin vs Style

[rbruhn]

I'm just setting up my first forum and want to understand the best way to change the look and feel of the site.
Can someone tell me the difference between a "skin" that I can purchase from a third party and the "Styles" I can download for free on this site?

When I'm faced with updating to new versions of vBulletin, will either of these add ons give me a problem?
Roger

[Lynne]

Skins and Styles are the same thing. The difference between the ones you can purchase and the ones you can download from here is the price. :) Many sites that sell skins/styles also have some free ones you can download also.

[rbruhn]

Thanks Lynne,
As I said, I'm new to this product. Why would someone develop these styles and make them available at no cost?

Does the use of them present problems when upgrading to a new version of vBulletin?

Roger

[Lynne]

Usually they make the style for themselves and then decide to share. Same thing with all the modifications here.

As for upgrading, if Jelsoft changed a template for an upgrade, and the template is also modified in your style, then you will have to manually modify the template after and upgrade to keep the style up-to-date with the latest changes.