I have divided the Yahoo messenger skin tutorial up into six seperate categories to make navagation easier.

Introduction | Make a Platform | Color the .BMP's
Guide to the .BMP's | Alter the .XML | Guide to the .XML

#1 You must find where the Yahoo messenger skins are located...

Go to C:\Program Files\Yahoo!\Shared\Graphics.

Inside the graphics folder you will see "Maverick and Indigo" these are the skin folders.

#2 Right click on "Indigo". Pick copy folder.

#3 Right click on the copied folder and pick change name.

#4 Enter a name. For this Yahoo messenger skin making tutorial I will use the name "Red". Click on the folder you just renamed and find the .xml file marked "Indigo". Right click on Indigo file and pick rename, rename it with your Yahoo messenger 6.0 skins name. Example "Red".

#5 Now right click on the .xml you just renamed, and pick open with. Here you might have a few choices for a text editor. I use notepad.

#6 Inside the .xml where it says skinname="indigo" replace it with your skins name. Example skinname="red".

#7 Open your Yahoo messenger 6.0 and click view> change skin. At this point you should see the name of your skin with the "Classic, Indigo, and Maverick skins" on the skins selector window. It will still appear just like the original "Indigo skin". You now have a platform to make your own Yahoo messenger 6.0 skin.

You are now ready to start altering it to the way you want it.