Beta and Stable Releases

Share Your Insights

We chose the code name "Back to the Future" for the TYPO3 6.0 release coming this fall for various reasons. First of all it's of course a fun and geeky reference to a movie. But it is also a reference to the history of TYPO3 v4 and the planned but not yet released complete rewrite of the CMS with the codename "Phoenix". With the version 4 branch now moving forward towards a new major version number, we can leave behind some self made limitations and get Back on track, embracing the Future. This in particular means that 6.0 will incorporate heavy code cleanups especially moving some modules to extbase, the modern and future proof framework which has been backported form the Phoenix code. Besides that we will improve and intense the collaboration with the Phoenix team when it comes to new features so that new concepts and APIs are the same or similar where it makes sense. This will make TYPO3 v6 more stable and maintainable and smoothes the transition path to Phoenix.

During the TYPO3 Core Team Meeting as well as during the TYPO3 Developer Days 2012 we brainstormed some ideas what changes or features could make it into 6.0. We want to give you a short overview of the different topics, roughly sorted by the visions we have for that version.

If you want to help with any of them, feel free to get in touch with us. Of course you can also work on something totally different, maybe you have some additional ideas or want to start a team on something else. Then also feel free to contact us, to get your project up and running.

This list is neither complete nor is it final. It might be the case that some of these projects will not make it into 6.0 and need to be postponed to later versions. But for sure others will. If you already have a project you want to see in 6.0, just add it in the comments section and we will add it to the list.

Enhance User Experience

Improve Usability

(Patrick Broens, Helmut Hummel, Jens Hoffmann, Benni Mack)

The overall usability of the TYPO3 backend should be improved, especially for the editors. There will also be a code sprint on this topic, to get some hands-on work done together. 

New way to manage extensions

The current extension manager is criticized quite often for being unusable, slow and not able to do all the stuff you want to do with it while being able to do stuff you don’t want to do it. In this project we want to rethink the whole extension manager based on which features do you really need, how should they be implemented and what can be done in a different place altogether. The plan is to have the UX concept first and then get started implementing it. 

http://forge.typo3.org/projects/extensionmanager

jQuery Integration

We plan to replace prototype/scriptaculous with jQuery in the backend. jQuery is a solid and widely used and actively maintained JavaScript Framework. Incorporating jQuery is an important building block to be more agile with enhancements to the backend and thus streamlining the user experience. 

Have a look at the projects page on forge for the status:

http://forge.typo3.org/projects/typo3v6-jquery

Support for Mobile Devices

(Steffen Ritter, Patrick Broens, Sven Wolfermann)

More and more of the overall internet users are using mobile devices. The TYPO3 frontend is already able to serve mobile and responsive web sites but the TYPO3 backend is at the moment pretty much unusable on mobile devices. To showcase the frontend capabilities of TYPO3 we want to rewrite the introduction package adhering the principles of responsive web design. For the backend we want to achieve at least a basic support of tablet computers (especially concerning resizing / scrolling issues). 

Deployment and Updates

(Tobias Liebig, Olly Hader, Michael Stucki)

TYPO3 updates for minor versions are easy enough to do. In fact they are so easy that they could probably be automated. We want to have an easy way ("push a button") to upgrade a TYPO3 extension. On the same subject we also want to have better console support for doing things in TYPO3 like installing or updating extensions making it possible to write shell scripts to automate these processes. 

http://forge.typo3.org/projects/show/extension-deployment

Improve and ensure code quality

Infrastructure to monitor code quality

(Helmut Hummel, Andy Grunwald, Christian Trabold)

We want to build and provide an infrastructure that makes it easy to execute unit and functional tests on development systems and have them automatically executed on every commit to our review system (Gerrit). The first steps for the latter are done already. We have a Jenkins server (ci.typo3.org) that does a syntax check for every commit and also checks for CGL violations. Additionally executing unit tests on each commit are basically working, using the travis ci infrastructure (travis-ci.org). The plan is to get this running at least for the end of the 6.0 development and ship a “green build” to the users with this release.

Move towards more simplicity

In the last few years the backend got more and more complex. More features and system extensions were included in the Core while at the same time due to backwards compatibility not much was removed, resulting in a bigger TYPO3 with every release. With a new major version we get the chance to remove old and outdated code as well as extensions that nobody uses anymore or that are not maintained. We aim to have a public discussion about features and extensions that just bloat the core and want to decide together with the community how to get a smaller TYPO3. 

Secure the building

(Georg Ringer, Helmut Hummel)

To improve security even more we want to provide an easy to use and easily understandable API for security features (for example "encodeForHtmlAttribute", "encodeForJavaScript" or "validateFilename").

Revamp the Logging

This project aims to:

• streamline them into on single logging API,
• optimize the user interface of the Log module,
• create and maintain suitable documentation for the different target groups
• cleanup logging configuration.

 If you want to help out in this topic, contact us or join the team directly on forge

http://forge.typo3.org/projects/typo3v4-logging

Encourage and strengthen Collaboration

Let's get into the FLOW

(Olly Hader , Patrick Broens, Georg Ringer, Christian Kuhn, Sebastian Kurfürst / Thomas Maroschik / Tolleiv Nietsch, Christian Müller)

As we have a really cool shiny PHP framework in our community now we want to take even more steps to make use of the benefits of this framework. That includes porting more backend modules to extbase and fluid, which will in the long term make restructuring the backend interface much easier. Have a look at the core mailing list in the thread “[TYPO3-core] Call for help: Migrate core extensions to extbase”.

Additionally we want to develop a common package repository for FLOW3 packages and TYPO3 extensions.

Miscellaneous

It's getting cloudy - or what file abstraction can do for you

(Benni Mack, Steffen Ritter)

External tool integration / REST API

(Thomas Maroschik, Helmut Hummel)

The way content is added to websites is changing. We can imagine that in the future you want to use voice input for editing content, mobile interfaces, your play station or something entirely new. To make that possible we need to implement an API for the basic actions you do (like: editing, adding, deleting or reading content). Basically the plan would be to implement a REST API for these actions.

FLOW3

The End

We're pleased to announce the release manager for the next version TYPO3 6.0 which is planned to be released this fall. 

You probably already have heard that Helmut Hummel will take over this task. Helmut currently is the leader of the TYPO3 Security Team and an active member of the TYPO3 Core Development Team. Since the expectations for a new major version 6.0 are high and the time until the release is limited, doing the release management for this version will be a challenging task. This is why he is supported by Christian Kuhn and Susanne Moog. All three will join forces in helping to coordinate the community efforts to make the new TYPO3 version 6.0 shiny and outstanding.

Here is a short introduction of the people in that team:

Helmut Hummel

I have been around the TYPO3 project for quite a while now. In the beginning I started with asking questions and giving answers on mailing lists. Later I helped out tracking down bugs and in the end I started contributing code to fix those little gremlins. My main focus back then was to further improve a great product which I started to love and loved even more, the more I learned about it. While doing so, I found out that not only the product itself is great, but in particular the people that are dedicated to maintain and improve it. Learning from the people in the community and sharing my own knowledge with them became an important part of my life. 

I now have the honour of being the release manager of the next TYPO3 version. In order to stay focused on this task, I suggest four objectives which I would love to see fulfilled for this release.

1. Enhance User Experience
2. Improve and ensure Code Quality
3. Increase overall Security
4. Encourage and strengthen Collaboration

The first three objectives I see as important building blocks to make TYPO3 more useful, more stable and more fun to use; Just right according to our mission: "Jointly Innovate Excellent Free Software Enabling People to Communicate" The fourth one I see as an important working mode to reach these goals. Alongside our vision "Inspiring People to Share" we would like to encourage everyone to contribute to this release. Besides involving the community I'd like to strengthen the collaboration between the core development team and other teams like the design team, documentation team, extbase team, FLOW3 team; just to mention a few.

If you have ideas, concepts, already working code or just want to help out: Don't hesitate to contact us. We already have a lot of ideas of how to make your contribution easy, fun and valued.

You can contact me via Skype (helhum) or email (helmut.hummel(at)typo3.org).

Susanne Moog

My name is Susi and I'm a TYPO3 addict. I am working with TYPO3 since 2005 and in the Core Team since 2010. I love TYPO3 and Open Source in general not only for its possibilities to be part of something bigger but also because of the meanings behind it.

In the release team I want to take care of communication to the outside and coordinating things. I want to be the “enabling people to communicate” part, as in the past it has become clear that communication is vital. I will of course also review change requests and hopefully also contribute some code ;)

Code-wise I plan to mainly work on a new extension manager based on extbase.

You can contact me via skype (susanne.moog) or email (susanne.moog(at)typo3.org).

Christian Kuhn

I’m Christian “lolli” Kuhn and I’m a TYPO3 geek. After working with TYPO3 for years I became visible in the community when the core patch list opened in 2007. I have been working with the core team since then and have been invited as an official member in 2009. Most of my core work was more under the hood. I often tackled those issues no one else took care of. For 6.0 I want to concentrate on further cleaning up the existing codebase and migrating more core extensions to extbase. Therefore I’m now also member of the extbase team and will try to fill the communication gap between extbase and the core team and code. A lot of stuff is currently happening in this area and help is appreciated.

You can contact me for help or if you have questions via skype (christiank.enet) or email (christian.kuhn(at)typo3.org).

Basic Rules

• There is no money/stipend
  • We are not Google and this summer of code is not related to Google at all! We have our own rules and own timeline. We won't have any stipends for your project (sorry), which means you won't receive any money for working on a project. We try to find some sponsors for maybe travel costs, T3CON-Tickets and some swags (no promises here).
  • But we will make sure you will recieve as much fame and appreciation by the community as possible.
• You will be guided by a mentor
  • For each project we will assign (at least) one mentor. Your mentor is well-known to the community and most likely a Core Team Member, too. He will be your guide, your project manager, contact person, door into the community, helping hand regarding communication. He will help you to do the conceptional work, will nudge other people if you depend on them and is open to all questions about TYPO3 and the community. He will make sure your project is on track and going into the right direction.
• No need to be enrolled at a university
  • You do not need to be enrolled as a student, but need to make sure you will have enough time to work on the project during the summer (see our roadmap below).
• We will require regular reports
  • To make sure your project is still on track and to help you best, we will need you to report and communicate on a regular base with your mentor. We will encourage you and your mentor to make some buzz on your article (blog articles, twitter, google+).

Sponsors

Roadmap

• now - 6.5. Students hand in their application.
  • Choose a project to work on. Get inspiration from http://wiki.typo3.org/Gsoc2012/Ideas
  • Describe your project and tell us a little bit about yourself. Have a look at the application template and try to answer all questions in your proposal:http://wiki.typo3.org/Gsoc2012/Application_Template
  • We might want to publish some parts of your proposal later. Make sure outsiders can get your project idea from reading your description.
  • Put your proposal on http://wiki.typo3.org/ as a subpage of "T3soc2012".
  • Title our page like "T3soc2012/Proposal/{mycoolproject}" and send us a link to tobias.liebig(at)typo3.org
• 7.5. - 25.5. Finish up Project Proposal; Mentor assignment
  • We are going to read your proposal and give you some feedback.
  • We will assign a mentor to you as early as possible. He will help you to finish and cleanup your project description and fix your Roadmap.
  • http://wiki.typo3.org/Gsoc2012/Mentors
  • If you have any preference, tell us in your proposal.
• End of May Announcements of the projects
  • We will publish your project description and start some buzz about it.
  • Use this week to get in contact with your mentor and setup yourself.
  • Make sure your dev envoirment and all perquisite are ready, so your can start right away from 1st of June
  • Setup a project on http://forge.typo3.org/
• June/July/Aug Coding period
  • Work on your project.
  • Push your code to forge (or github) as often as possible.
  • Do at least weekly meetings (Skype/BBB/GoogleHangout/Whatever) with your mentor. Report him what you have done in the last week and what are you going to do in the next days. If you get stuck, need any help or feedback, this is the place to ask for it.
  • Publish a brief weekly report on your blog and as a mail to your Mentor, the admin and the dev maillinglist.
  • Let us know, where you publish such thing, so we and the community can follow your project progress.
  • Take care about the replies and feedback you receive.
  • All Mentors and the Summer-Admin will meet every two or three weeks to make sure everything its fine. Your mentor will need to report the status of your project in this meetings. Make sure to keep him up to date.
• 31.8. Suggested end of coding period
  • Aim to have everything done by end of august. Really make sure everything you have done is finished ('done done').
  • Prefer to postpone a feature instead of having something half-finished.
• 1.9. - 21.9. Finish things up
  • Cleanup your code. Make sure all unit tests are green (and also make sure sure to have some).
  • If suitable/feasable, setup a public demo system.
  • Write and publish a final report about your project.
  • Prepare a 10 minute presentation for our talk at the T3CON12 in Stuttgart.
• 4.10. - 6.10. T3CON12 Stuttgart
  • We are going to present your project at the T3CON12. We really would love to see you there. If try to find sponsors for the ticket and travel costs (but can't promise anything by now; we will keep you updated as early as possible).

TYPO3 harmonizes with HTML5

Web Accessibility by default

›Government Package‹: An increase in accessibility

Other new features, improvements and bug fixes

Get TYPO3 4.7 now...

Documentation

• TypoScript Reference (doc_core_tsref)
• TSconfig (doc_core_tsconfig)
• TCA Reference (doc_core_tca)
• TypoScript Syntax and In-depth (doc_core_ts)

Upgrading Information, technical details and support

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