If you change the name of the folder, that changes the name of the skin.

Although there is a new format in v5 for skins, all skins created and packaged the "old" way are supposed to work with 5.x.

Thanks for your quick reply. So I CAN change the name of the folder while it's uploaded to the site and it won't break (actually my site is local right now)

Can I just go to the file system and change the name - is it that easy?

The end result is that I indeed need to change the naming of the skin

Thanks ahead!

If you are using the skin, changing the folder name WILL break your site.  If you want to do things in a way that doesn't break, copy the folder and rename it.  You will have a new skin that is the same as the old skin, but with a new name.  Then you can go into your site and change references to the skin.

OK good! Sorry to sound so green, but I am in terms of 'creating' a unique skin...
How do I change the reference then - here are the steps I think I need to take.
1 copy entire skin folder
2 rename the folder
3 upload the new zipped folder as a new skin
4.change the reference (where?)

which leaves me with a final question... is it just the skin folder now in 5x or the skins and containers both - all I need now is the skin?

Thank you very much jn - and I'll look around here for more details as well.

If you want to install the new skin from a zip file, just changing the name of the zip file will change the name of the installed skin.

The skins and containers folders are still separate.  What has changed is the packaging of the zip file.  DotNetNuke can read the old and the new formats, though.

Thanks Joe