TYPO3 v8 LTS

TYPO3 has been available as TYPO3 8 LTS since 4.4.2017 and is therefore available for download in version 8.7 of the popular enterprise content management system TYPO3.

LTS stands for Long Term Support. This means that TYPO3 8 LTS will receive three years of support from the TYPO3 community.

TYPO3 8 LTS will receive security updates and important bug fixes until March 2020, which will be provided free of charge by the TYPO3 community. As in the previous, very successful LTS versions of TYPO3, TYPO3 8 LTS also combines all the functions of the 8 versions into a particularly stable release. Below we have summarized the most important new features and functions of TYPO3 8 LTS for you.

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TYPO3 8 LTS Backend - Mobile Responsive - iPhone

TYPO3 Backend: Mobile Responsive

While large parts of the TYPO3 backend had already been responsively revised in TYPO3 7 LTS version, the backend has now been optimized again with TYPO3 v8 LTS. In addition to the existing option for editing on tablets, editors can now also carry out their work on popular smartphones. Sometimes it's the simple things that significantly improve usability, especially on small screens. For example, both the module navigation on the left and the page tree can now be folded in and out at any time by clicking on the corresponding menu icons.

More speed

Certainly one of the most important features of the new TYPO3 v8 LTS is the significant increase in performance of the content management system. Thanks to PHP version 7, which is now a minimum requirement for the new TYPO3 version, the overall performance of TYPO3 has once again been significantly improved. Working in the TYPO3 backend has never been so fast, which is due to the fact that the template engine Fluid has now been integrated into TYPO3 as a "standalone" version. Further information on "Standalone Fluid" is provided below. In addition, most parts of the old JavaScript framework ExtJS have been replaced. Instead, jQuery is now used more intensively.

TYPO3 8 LTS - Image editing with Focal Points

Advanced image manipulation in the TYPO3 backend

Focus points for different device types

The consistently positive feedback from editors and agencies around the world about the image manipulation in the TYPO3 backend introduced with TYPO3 7 LTS has encouraged TYPO3 developers to take the image editing feature one step further.

Cropping images, as a part of the TYPO3 backend, without the need to install additional software is one thing. Positioning the images perfectly in the frontend for the different device types is another challenge, especially for small screens such as mobile devices.

If images were automatically cropped for smaller screens, important image information might be lost. Since TYPO3 v8 LTS, areas and aspect ratios for images can be predefined for specific device types or output sizes (e.g. "Mobile" and "Desktop").

Different variants of an image with different image sections can then be edited and selected in the TYPO3 backend. With TYPO3 8 LTS, a technology called "Focal Point" comes into play. The editor can not only crop images in the backend, but also select the focal point of an image. TYPO3 ensures that this area remains visible in the frontend by positioning the cropped image accordingly.

Create new and simple forms

How often do you build or update forms on your website? How long does it take and how much fun is it to create forms? A completely new form framework has been introduced with TYPO3 v8 LTS, allowing editors to create all kinds of fantastic forms of any size and complexity with just a few mouse clicks.

Simple contact forms, complex surveys across multiple pages, file uploads, data validation and the option to group form fields are just some of the features that are now supported by TYPO3 as standard.

The special highlight is that every form created is saved as a template and can be reused as often as required. A saved form template can also be cloned and the copy adapted to create a variation of the first form. Each form template is saved as a YAML file, i.e. it can be exported, shared and, if desired, versioned.

New Rich Text Editor

CKEditor

A new, contemporary Rich Text Editor (RTE) is delivered with TYPO3 8 LTS. The well-known CKEditor replaces the previously used editor "HtmlArea" and thus lays the foundation for new, extensive frontend editing functions. Furthermore, compared to the old HtmlArea, the CKEditor is significantly faster, easier to configure and comes with a variety of new functions on board. With the new frontend editing, TYPO3 editors and editors will be able to change texts directly on the website, add new content or edit complete menu structures in the look & feel of the website. The new frontend editing is already available in a separate extension on github for TYPO3 v8 LTS.

Multilingualism and translations

There are not many content management systems on the market that can keep up with the powerful multilingual capabilities of TYPO3. The powerful translation concept has been extended even further in TYPO3 8 LTS, allowing editors to decide whether a label from an existing language should be inherited or overwritten by a translation.

To achieve unprecedented flexibility in this regard, this handling works for multilingualism, for almost all fields in the TYPO3 backend (e.g. an image title or a subtitle) and can be selected individually for each content element. The decision on how to proceed with translations for content elements is made by the editor or translator who creates the content.

Further functions of TYPO3 v8 LTS

In addition to the functions listed and explained above, a number of important developments have also been made in TYPO3 v8 LTS which are not visible at first glance.

Database abstraction

Most web applications are developed using a specific database system. For many PHP-based systems, MySQL is the database system of choice, but support for different database systems is almost mandatory for an enterprise content management system such as TYPO3 in order to remain the CMS of choice in the corporate environment and to continue to offer options for better scalability. With the introduction of the Doctrine DBAL (Database Abstraction Layer) in TYPO3 v8 LTS, the dependency on a single database model has been eliminated. Doctrine is widely recognized as a database abstraction layer in the PHP universe on which TYPO3 is based. By decoupling the application from a specific database system, TYPO3 v8 LTS can now use MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL and MSSQL databases.

Standalone Fluid

The powerful template engine "Fluid" has been part of the TYPO3 core for a long time. But don't worry, this hasn't changed. However, Fluid is now much more flexible, has received a lot of new features and has been decoupled from the TYPO3 core. This means that several components of Fluid that were completely internal and impossible to replace have now been given a public API and can be replaced as needed. Standalone Fluid is not only faster, but also fully backwards compatible. In addition, Fluid can now be integrated as a template engine in other frameworks such as Symfony or Laravel.