TYPO3 CMS frequently asked questions
All about TYPO3
Browserwerk answers your questions about the content management system TYPO3
Contents
- What is TYPO3
- Target group for TYPO3
- How long can I use TYPO3
- TYPO3 advantages
- TYPO3 disadvantages
- Rational TYPO3 budgets
- TYPO3 vs. WordPress: when to use
- TYPO3 hosting
- How do I know that a TYPO3 agency is working properly
- What does the Association and the GmbH do
What is TYPO3?
TYPO3 was developed in 1998 by Kasper Skårhøj. TYPO3 is a very powerful content management system that can cover most of the needs of modern web applications. TYPO3 is open source. This means that there are basically no license costs for the use of the software and the source code is visible to anyone at any and can be extended accordingly. Updates & upgrades to close vulnerabilities and official extensions are provided by the s.g. "TYPO3 Core Team" made available to all users in a timely manner.
TYPO3 target group
TYPO3 is primarily used by many medium-sized companies with international orientation and multilingual websites. It works well for more complex web projects (corporate websites, extra and intranet applications, enterprise requirements). The target group consists of online marketing managers, stakeholders and developers who are bored of content management systems like WordPress.
Area of application:
- Websites with multilingualism
- Websites with multidomains
- Product configurators and more complex custom extensions
- Maintaining many pages in the backend
- Managing many files (Digital Asset Management)
- Creation of editorial workflow approvals
- Illustration of complex user rights & structures
- Security relevant web applications
How long can I use TYPO3?
In short: about 3 - 5 years. Compared to many other content management systems, the "long term support" releases are very serious and seem very punctual. At https://typo3.org/cms/roadmap/ you can gain insight into the further development and get an overview of how long which version is available and supported. After the expiration of the "priority bugfixes" it is possible to book the "extended support" for 2,000.- € per domain and year (https://typo3.com/ordering). This is useful if the website still fulfills its target or is simply too extensive for a relaunch to take place in the given time.
What are the advantages of TYPO3?
With TYPO3 all the requirements of modern websites can be realized. And in such a way that the solution is maintainable, scalable and durable. One of the principles of TYPO3 is "keep your investment". If no amateur has created the project, this sentence applies fully. The CMS grows with you and your requirements, offers (in the meantime) outstanding backend usability and with the right configuration also corresponding SEO basics (URLs, sitemaps, metas, etc.). It therefore offers online marketing managers many opportunities and opportunities to operate effective marketing.
A properly set up TYPO3 accompanies you faithfully for years and can be extended again and again. A migration to later versions is normally guaranteed, but not always reasonable. There are TYPO3 projects, which ran in the core of decades. The performance of the system will deliver a satisfactory to very good result even with the most extensive enhancements in clean programming. Furthermore, TYPO3 is characterized by high security standards and - if regular updates are made - difficult to take over by an attacker. From a technical point of view TYPO3 separates the editor's content relatively clean from the extensions. This has a positive effect on correspondingly complex deployments and the stability of the entire system in the case of extensions.
What are the disadvantages TYPO3?
TYPO3 has a reputation to be difficult to use for the editor, but these times are long gone.
For marketers: (technical) changes must be taken over by a service provider and as mentioned in the first paragraph, it is not uncommon that installed extensions do not work immediately, which is why TYPO3 can sometimes feel "heavy" in everyday life and implementations can be correspondingly costly, but bring a lot of stability.
The learning curve of TYPO3 is relatively high for developers, which is why they are in great demand. The interpretation of error messages and the in-house language TypoScript is hard to getting used to at first. There are many ways to solve a problem in the implementation and the basic attitude of the community is that little rules should be made to preserve the freedom of the CMS. This means, in effect, that each agency works a little differently and over time has developed proprietary solutions that work for each application. Many extensions that can be downloaded from the TER, so to speak the official download portal of TYPO3, do not work right away and sometimes have to be configured with great effort. Precisely because it is possible to make changes in so many places in TYPO3, it is not always obvious what the documentation currently describes. You need a lot of experience. In addition: TYPO3 has no templates that you can buy on platforms and just install, which is why the template creation for the same result in other CMS is expensive.
Which budgets are rational for TYPO3 projects?
Here opinions in the community are very different. Of course, it always comes down to the complexity of the project and you can certainly install a "standard" system for 2,000.- € and have a working website. A decent template is available and possibly even custom extensions have been developed, but that means a certain effort. The dimensions of projects therefore tend to be between € 15,000.- € and € 3 million in real terms. These values also show that TYPO3 can be used very flexibly in every respect.
TYPO3 vs. WordPress - When to use which system?
We have a simple rule of thumb that has helped us a lot in past projects to find the right solution:
Monolingual, template, standard plugins, one domain -> WordPress
Monolingual, customization, multi tree / multi domain -> TYPO3
The database tables in WordPress are built very rudimentary, which is why it often comes to complications in further development of the site at a later date. This manifests itself in (sometimes extremely) long load times, unexpected behavior of the website (page stops suddenly stop working) and a non-maintainable instance. From this point on, the developer can no longer estimate how long an extension will take on the website, and it's almost impossible to provide the customer with a realistic effort estimate.
On the other hand, of course, you do not have to "shoot sparrows with cannons" when a simple corporate website is required and few extensions need to be programmed. Here you should rather use WordPress, than TYPO3. Both systems can, in principle, be marketed effectively with the right online marketing strategy. Just keep in mind that WordPress was originally launched as a blogging system and should resist the temptation to think that just because the plugins seem to work it makes sense. Quickly 30 - 40 plugins are installed, which tugs at the performance of the entire page. Nothing is worse than a relaunch, which would actually have to be relaunched because the system is not up to the standard. We are happy to advise you which CMS is the right one for you in our experience.
What needs to be considered when hosting TYPO3?
Virtually all hosters can now deal with TYPO3. The standard functions like PHP, MySQL, ImageMagick & Co usually work quite well. Nevertheless, our recommendation would be to evaluate a TYPO3-specific hoster; Alone for performance reasons regarding loading times.
How you can tell that a TYPO3 agency is working properly
- The agency is active in the community (and exchanges regularly with others here)
- The agency has its own developers, which you can talk to yourself is necessary
- TypoScript is not written to the database, but to external .ts files
- There is a deployment pipeline
- There are few classic design agencies with in-house developers
What does TYPO3 GmbH do and what does TYPO3 Association do?
General: The Association is responsible for the typo3.org website and the GmbH manages typo3.com. Basically, one can say that the Association represents the community and guarantees the GmbH as an independent enterprise and contact person for the further development, so that stakeholders have the certainty that there will be TYPO3 also in many years. Of course, this is only a small part of the task. More details on the exact structures can be found at https://typo3.org/project/association/structure/the-typo3-company/
Questions left unanswered? Then write us an email at typo3faq@browserwerk.de.
All about TYPO3
Browserwerk answers your questions about the content management system TYPO3
Contents
- What is TYPO3
- Target group for TYPO3
- How long can I use TYPO3
- TYPO3 advantages
- TYPO3 disadvantages
- Rational TYPO3 budgets
- TYPO3 vs. WordPress: when to use
- TYPO3 hosting
- How do I know that a TYPO3 agency is working properly
- What does the Association and the GmbH do
What is TYPO3?
TYPO3 was developed in 1998 by Kasper Skårhøj. TYPO3 is a very powerful content management system that can cover most of the needs of modern web applications. TYPO3 is open source. This means that there are basically no license costs for the use of the software and the source code is visible to anyone at any and can be extended accordingly. Updates & upgrades to close vulnerabilities and official extensions are provided by the s.g. "TYPO3 Core Team" made available to all users in a timely manner.
TYPO3 target group
TYPO3 is primarily used by many medium-sized companies with international orientation and multilingual websites. It works well for more complex web projects (corporate websites, extra and intranet applications, enterprise requirements). The target group consists of online marketing managers, stakeholders and developers who are bored of content management systems like WordPress.
Area of application:
- Websites with multilingualism
- Websites with multidomains
- Product configurators and more complex custom extensions
- Maintaining many pages in the backend
- Managing many files (Digital Asset Management)
- Creation of editorial workflow approvals
- Illustration of complex user rights & structures
- Security relevant web applications
How long can I use TYPO3?
In short: about 3 - 5 years. Compared to many other content management systems, the "long term support" releases are very serious and seem very punctual. At https://typo3.org/cms/roadmap/ you can gain insight into the further development and get an overview of how long which version is available and supported. After the expiration of the "priority bugfixes" it is possible to book the "extended support" for 2,000.- € per domain and year (https://typo3.com/ordering). This is useful if the website still fulfills its target or is simply too extensive for a relaunch to take place in the given time.
What are the advantages of TYPO3?
With TYPO3 all the requirements of modern websites can be realized. And in such a way that the solution is maintainable, scalable and durable. One of the principles of TYPO3 is "keep your investment". If no amateur has created the project, this sentence applies fully. The CMS grows with you and your requirements, offers (in the meantime) outstanding backend usability and with the right configuration also corresponding SEO basics (URLs, sitemaps, metas, etc.). It therefore offers online marketing managers many opportunities and opportunities to operate effective marketing.
A properly set up TYPO3 accompanies you faithfully for years and can be extended again and again. A migration to later versions is normally guaranteed, but not always reasonable. There are TYPO3 projects, which ran in the core of decades. The performance of the system will deliver a satisfactory to very good result even with the most extensive enhancements in clean programming. Furthermore, TYPO3 is characterized by high security standards and - if regular updates are made - difficult to take over by an attacker. From a technical point of view TYPO3 separates the editor's content relatively clean from the extensions. This has a positive effect on correspondingly complex deployments and the stability of the entire system in the case of extensions.
What are the disadvantages TYPO3?
TYPO3 has a reputation to be difficult to use for the editor, but these times are long gone.
For marketers: (technical) changes must be taken over by a service provider and as mentioned in the first paragraph, it is not uncommon that installed extensions do not work immediately, which is why TYPO3 can sometimes feel "heavy" in everyday life and implementations can be correspondingly costly, but bring a lot of stability.
The learning curve of TYPO3 is relatively high for developers, which is why they are in great demand. The interpretation of error messages and the in-house language TypoScript is hard to getting used to at first. There are many ways to solve a problem in the implementation and the basic attitude of the community is that little rules should be made to preserve the freedom of the CMS. This means, in effect, that each agency works a little differently and over time has developed proprietary solutions that work for each application. Many extensions that can be downloaded from the TER, so to speak the official download portal of TYPO3, do not work right away and sometimes have to be configured with great effort. Precisely because it is possible to make changes in so many places in TYPO3, it is not always obvious what the documentation currently describes. You need a lot of experience. In addition: TYPO3 has no templates that you can buy on platforms and just install, which is why the template creation for the same result in other CMS is expensive.
Which budgets are rational for TYPO3 projects?
Here opinions in the community are very different. Of course, it always comes down to the complexity of the project and you can certainly install a "standard" system for 2,000.- € and have a working website. A decent template is available and possibly even custom extensions have been developed, but that means a certain effort. The dimensions of projects therefore tend to be between € 15,000.- € and € 3 million in real terms. These values also show that TYPO3 can be used very flexibly in every respect.
TYPO3 vs. WordPress - When to use which system?
We have a simple rule of thumb that has helped us a lot in past projects to find the right solution:
Monolingual, template, standard plugins, one domain -> WordPress
Monolingual, customization, multi tree / multi domain -> TYPO3
The database tables in WordPress are built very rudimentary, which is why it often comes to complications in further development of the site at a later date. This manifests itself in (sometimes extremely) long load times, unexpected behavior of the website (page stops suddenly stop working) and a non-maintainable instance. From this point on, the developer can no longer estimate how long an extension will take on the website, and it's almost impossible to provide the customer with a realistic effort estimate.
On the other hand, of course, you do not have to "shoot sparrows with cannons" when a simple corporate website is required and few extensions need to be programmed. Here you should rather use WordPress, than TYPO3. Both systems can, in principle, be marketed effectively with the right online marketing strategy. Just keep in mind that WordPress was originally launched as a blogging system and should resist the temptation to think that just because the plugins seem to work it makes sense. Quickly 30 - 40 plugins are installed, which tugs at the performance of the entire page. Nothing is worse than a relaunch, which would actually have to be relaunched because the system is not up to the standard. We are happy to advise you which CMS is the right one for you in our experience.
What needs to be considered when hosting TYPO3?
Virtually all hosters can now deal with TYPO3. The standard functions like PHP, MySQL, ImageMagick & Co usually work quite well. Nevertheless, our recommendation would be to evaluate a TYPO3-specific hoster; Alone for performance reasons regarding loading times.
How you can tell that a TYPO3 agency is working properly
- The agency is active in the community (and exchanges regularly with others here)
- The agency has its own developers, which you can talk to yourself is necessary
- TypoScript is not written to the database, but to external .ts files
- There is a deployment pipeline
- There are few classic design agencies with in-house developers
What does TYPO3 GmbH do and what does TYPO3 Association do?
General: The Association is responsible for the typo3.org website and the GmbH manages typo3.com. Basically, one can say that the Association represents the community and guarantees the GmbH as an independent enterprise and contact person for the further development, so that stakeholders have the certainty that there will be TYPO3 also in many years. Of course, this is only a small part of the task. More details on the exact structures can be found at https://typo3.org/project/association/structure/the-typo3-company/
Questions left unanswered? Then write us an email at typo3faq@browserwerk.de.
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