Download all these files into a folder name "ParaDark"
Place the ParaDark folder into Mediawiki/Skins
go to MediaWiki LocalSetting.php and add this line wfLoadSkin( 'ParaDark' ); next to all the other wfLoadSkin() calls
You may need to reload Mediawiki for it to show up.
Now when users go to their Special:Preferences page, they can change their appearance setting theme to ParaDark
REQUIRED: remove this line wfLoadSkin( 'ParaDark' ); from LocalSetting.php
REQUIRED: If you set $wgDefaultSkin to 'ParaDark' you must switch it to another skin you have installed
MediaWiki will automatically switch users using ParaDark back to the default skin
You can keep the ParaDark folder in Skins if you just want to disable its use for the time being without any issues. Otherwise you can just delete it at this point.
See skin.json.
Best way to alter this skin on a basic level is to edit the .mustache templates and .LESS stylesheets.
variables.less will allow you to change most Coloring and Styling uniformly without a ton of work or worry of breaking things.
The Mustache templates rely heavily on the data they get from the PHP Template/Skin files so be wary about messing with them
Don't try and mess with the PHP template/skin files unless you have a good understanding of Mediawiki Software and PHP removing certain calls for data will have a large impact on everything else.
Most of the Template/Skin PHP files is sourced from the Vector Skin(I did a bit of customization) so credit goes to everyone who worked on that.
We strive for compliance with MediaWiki conventions:
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Coding_conventions
Additions and deviations from those conventions that are more tailored to this project are noted at:
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Reading/Web/Coding_conventions
this is protected under GDL 2.0+ so you're free to take and use this and modify it to whatever the hell you want. Just credit the author and follow the license.