My b2evolution Version: 1.10.x
Am I correct in assuming I MUST use some form of skin to set up my blog?
I've been out of the website/blog thing for a couple of years, and I remember with older versions of b2 I could have a "basic" blog in which I used "php include" to insert it into my webpage - and then it would automatically conform to whatever my website looked like.
Is it not possible to do this anymore because of the skins?
(I have version 1.10.2)
This doesn't sound like any functionality I'm aware of these days. Anyway, you're better off with 2.x, 1.x is now getting a bit old.
Either way, there's no reason not to use the same css for both your main website and the blog. That way they can 'look and feel' very similar.