People familiar with TYPO3 already know that the process of creating a functional website with TYPO3 can be difficult especially for newbies and the lack of the out of box functionality of TYPO3 scared away many people. Although now there is an Introduction Package that is still hard to use and it doesn’t solve every problem you might have. Templating with the Introduction Package is still hard and you can’t just change the theme of the website with a click of a mouse.
Also while creating websites with TYPO3 web developers (experienced or not) must always do the same time consuming tasks like installing the TYPO3 source, installing and configuring needed extensions, map templates and many more.
I always wanted to change this, i wanted to make easier for newcomers to the TYPO3 world to get an idea of what TYPO3 can do. I also wanted to automate much of the work i have to do on regular basis when i create websites with TYPO3. That’s why i created TYPO3 Distributions.
What is TYPO3 Distributions ?
TYPO3 Distributions is in fact a collection of TYPO3 extensions packaged together with a TYPO3 source, configured and skinned so its ready to use as a standalone working website in 10 minutes (right after it is installed).
The idea behind TYPO3 Distributions is not new. I didn’t invent it! There are already a few packages besides the Introduction Package that do exactly this. My source of inspiration is the WEC package, created by the Web Empowered Church.
But make no mistake, TYPO3 Distributions is not a copy of that package. These are completely new packages, built from scratch that use part of the work of the WEC Team’s work (some extensions). I especially liked the idea of making skins for websites just like in other CMS software. So i took the idea a step further and i aim to provide several different distributions each targeting a specific type of website and each with skin support and complete functionality out of the box.
TYPO3 Distributions will make you save tens of hours of work giving you a website after just a few minutes of installing time. Then you can customize your skin or download a free skin from our website and you’re ready to go!
For the beginning there are three distributions: TYPO3 Distributions – Community edition, TYPO3 Distributions – Corporate edition and TYPO3 Distributions – Blogger edition
The Community edition allows the setup and smooth operation of a TYPO3 community website in a matter of minutes (provided that no customization of the skin is necessary). This website comes preconfigured with user login, user registration, news publishing, event management, forum, blog, photo gallery, FAQ, contact form.
The Corporate edition is a distribution suited for corporate websites having generic content pages, news publishing system, photo gallery, FAQ, Job postings and contact form with map of company location.
The Blogger edition is aimed at TYPO3 enthusiasts who want to run a blog and want to do this with TYPO3. The Blogger edition is the most lightweight of the distributions and comes with a suite of extensions configured just for blogging.
Work hasn’t stopped here alongside with improvements on existing editions in the near future further editions will be available. The Travel edition will be aimed at travel agencies and travel related websites while the Publishing edition will target online news publishing websites while the Shop Edition will provide a fully functional webshop right after install.
I hope this will help others to learn TYPO3 and also will help some developers to have a kickstart while creating new websites.
Any suggestion, feedback or critique is welcomed.
To get started with TYPO3 Distributions please visit : http://www.typo3distributions.com
