
This section will always be named, and is used as sort of a header for the skin, to set up some options that impact the entire skin. It updates the skin once a second, measures the used CPU as a percentage, and displays that percentage. The following is an example of a very simple Rainmeter skin file. Option values must be kept on a single line.Measure names can start with or contain any printable letter, number or non-math punctuation or symbol from the ASCII / Extended ASCII character set, and any Unicode "letter/word" character from any language. Section and option names should include alphanumeric characters only.All option names within a section must be unique.All section names in a skin must be unique.

INI format that consists of only three types of lines: Let's start with what a skin file looks like. The skin can be very visibly dynamic and interactive. While the skin can simply obtain information and display it, the skin can also react to changing values in the information it measures, or react to your mouse clicks. So at its most basic, measures are "input" and meters are "output". In a simplified sense, each skin in Rainmeter is a free-floating window, which periodically gathers system and other information using various Measures, and displays the results on the window with various Meters.

Once you understand what a Rainmeter skin "is", it will be far easier to come to terms with the huge amount of options and functionality described in detail in the rest of the documentation. This is not intended to be comprehensive, but at a level of detail that will help users grasp the fundamentals of Rainmeter. The goal of this guide is to familiarize users who are new to Rainmeter with what a Rainmeter skin is, and how it works.
