There is no "Skeleton Template" object to create. You build a skeleton by turning off the platform UI and styles on a Visualforce page. These steps produce a bare page you fully control.
- Create a Visualforce page
In Setup, open Visualforce Pages and click New, or use the Developer Console. Give the page a name and start with a single apex:page tag. At this point it still shows the Salesforce header and standard styles.
- Turn off the header, sidebar, and standard stylesheets
On the apex:page tag set showHeader to false, sidebar to false, and standardStylesheets to false. Setting standardStylesheets to false matters because the standard CSS is still added when only showHeader is false.
- Take over the outer html and body tags
For a fully bare shell, set applyHtmlTag and applyBodyTag to false, then write your own html, head, and body markup inside the page so you control the document head and language attributes.
- Add your own styling and logic
Reference a static resource for your CSS, and wire up a custom controller or controller extension for data. Test the page as the audience that will use it, including guest users on a Salesforce Site if it is public.
Set to false to remove the Salesforce tab header. Defaults to true.
Set to false to remove the left navigation column. Defaults to true.
Set to false so the standard Salesforce CSS is not injected. Defaults to true even when showHeader is false.
Set both to false to write the outer html and body tags yourself for a truly minimal shell. Both default to true.
- Setting only showHeader to false still pulls in the standard stylesheets. You must also set standardStylesheets to false for a clean page.
- The Visualforce guide warns that standard Salesforce CSS can change between releases, so a page that depends on it may look different after an upgrade.
- A blank shell means you own accessibility, responsive layout, and cross-browser behavior that a themed template would have handled.
- For new public sites, prefer an Experience Builder blank page or theme layout over a Visualforce skeleton, since the component model gets new features each release.