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TYPO3 Glossary

Templating

TYPO3 Templating

If you want to understand how your website looks just right, you need to familiarize yourself with TYPO3 templating. It's an important part of customizing how your website appears.

What is TYPO3 templating?

Templating in TYPO3 is all about defining the look and feel of your website. It's about creating templates that are like blueprints for your website. These templates determine how your content is displayed on the web pages.

Why use templates?

Templates help you keep the design of your website consistent. Instead of designing each page from scratch, create a template once and use it for multiple pages. This saves time and ensures that your website has a consistent look and feel.

Types of templates in TYPO3

  1. HTML templates: These are the basic templates where you define the structure and design of your pages with HTML and CSS. Think of it as the layout of your website, including headers, footers and content areas.
  2. Fluid templates: TYPO3 uses a system called Fluid for advanced templating. Fluid templates are more flexible and allow you to create dynamic content. They use a combination of HTML and special Fluid tags to insert content from TYPO3.
  3. TypoScript: This is a configuration language used in TYPO3. It helps you to define how your templates should work with TYPO3 content. TypoScript is used to manage settings such as which template should be used for which page and how different content elements should be displayed.

First steps with templating

  1. Create a template file: Start by creating a new HTML file. This file will serve as your template.
  2. Add placeholders: Use placeholders where you want to display your content. For example, you could have a placeholder for a header, the main content and the footer.
  3. Apply the template: In the TYPO3 backend, go to the page you want to apply the template to and set the file you created as the template for that page.
  4. Customize with Fluid: If you want to use Fluid templates, you need to write Fluid code to insert content dynamically. This includes creating a Fluid template file and using Fluid tags to retrieve and display content.
  5. Configure with TypoScript: Use TypoScript to tell TYPO3 which template to use and how to handle different content elements. You configure this in the TYPO3 backend.

Tips for effective templating

  • Keep it simple: Start with simple templates and build out as you become more confident. Complex templates can be overwhelming at first.
  • Utilize reusable elements: Design your templates so that elements such as headers and footers can be easily reused on different pages.
  • Test your templates: Always check how your templates look on different devices and browsers to make sure everything displays correctly.

Conclusion

TYPO3 templating may seem complex at first, but once you understand the basics, it becomes easier. By creating and managing templates, you can ensure that your TYPO3 website looks exactly how you want it to. Remember to start simple, use placeholders and gradually explore advanced features such as Fluid and TypoScript. Good luck with your templating!