Interview with Benni: TYPO3 for Everyone!

Most people with a TYPO3 background know my name from working on TYPO3 day and night. However, I’m actually working for a company b13.com where we’re building web-based solutions for customers around the world. Most of the time, we’re using TYPO3.

Back in 2003, I started as an editor using TYPO3 as an undergraduate to earn money on the side for paying my bills. I then worked at an IT company that built websites with a Java-based CMS, but they slowly moved towards TYPO3. I learned a lot about using TYPO3 as an integrator. However, in 2006 – awaiting the next TYPO3 release, I approached Ingmar Schlecht (the Release Manager back then, great guy!). I checked if the planned “AJAX-based page tree” would make it into TYPO3 v4.1. He responded with “nobody came forward yet, do YOU want to do it?”, and this is how everything started for Core development. I didn’t know anything at all about Core development, but gave it a try.

Mainly I plan and steer the product, and the development of it. But large parts of my TYPO3 contributions naturally revolve about keeping in touch with various stakeholders and developers. In my day-job, I identify and fix bugs related to TYPO3 and our Infrastructure. In the end, I’m the one (together with Oliver Hader) being held accountable for new TYPO3 versions, so I’m the one doing the actual release of new TYPO3 versions.

From a business perspective: In 2015 my company decided to go “all in” with TYPO3 and focus only on TYPO3, not any other CMSes or Open Source Solutions. Since then, it’s been mostly going upwards, because you aren’t distracted with other technologies in your day-to-day work, becoming more efficient. In 2018 b13 went to a global, solution-based and english-first communication strategy that pays off. So for all the business people: It’s all about dedication, believing in the product, and participating in the evolution of TYPO3.

I’m very happy and lucky that TYPO3 is still around the corner, which undermines my feeling that the foundation that Kasper Skaarhoj built with his ideas and concepts will continue to last. To be honest, I didn’t expect this back in 2010, but today, I’m confident that TYPO3 will still be used in 2030.

I can only speak for myself, but I’m 100% sure that TYPO3 will evolve into a slicker, and easier-to-use content management system, making TYPO3 a CMS for everyone, a claim I’ve coined in July 2020. TYPO3 should in fact be usable for everyone, without having to attend workshops to understand how to use it, or how to build websites. As you can imagine, a vision is something that won’t happen overnight, but I define it rather as “the light at the end of the tunnel”.

First: I don’t think TYPO3 has little market share. The market is just HUGE! If I see hundreds of thousands of installations, every change that I make will have an impact on millions of editors! And that’s not credit for me, but for the TYPO3 community, building so many cool web applications with it. I do believe however we’ve missed coming up with concrete solutions for the decision makers. This might be because there are a lot of techies in our community, scratching their own itch (including me), which is also a great strength at the same time.

I believe it’s not the code, but the actual solutions that TYPO3 offers - there are so many use-cases for TYPO3, which people just don’t know about. We don’t tell these stories. An example: TYPO3’s conferences are built for agency owners and community members, but not for “Hey, all artists who created their own website with TYPO3, get together for a meet up”, and there are so many facets around people using TYPO3, it’s just incredible. Part of it is covered by the universities with the Academic committee, but I think there are 100 more areas we could take about. So, we’re missing a positive communication to the outside world of what TYPO3 is capable of already with TYPO3 v10.

These are two topics for me: I build and maintain TYPO3 further because it fulfills a need inside of me, so it’s truly on a personal basis. What makes it “successful” is not just the person building the tool, but if others can make their lives easier by using this Open Source Software.

I’m happy that people within the TYPO3 community and TYPO3 Association are putting this as a priority. However, you also need local parties involved: As with TYPO3 in 2002 when it picked up popularity in Germany, you always need first-movers who are excited to learn and to try new things out.

It’s great to see T3Planet filling a place within the TYPO3 ecosystem, which was not available before. T3Planet helps people to find quick and common solutions for their problems, which have been solved by others already!

PHP might not be popular among all developers, but it certainly is successful and wide-spread. I think PHP is part of TYPO3’s DNA, and for a good reason.

Extensions. Without extensions, TYPO3 would have never been that flexible or scalable to succeed for so many different use cases: Don’t just think of multinational websites, but of smaller websites, Intranet solutions, E-Mailer or Marketing aggregation platforms which are powered by TYPO3 in the background. They are not.

The hardest part for me in recent years is the fast-pacing rise and fall of JavaScript frameworks and build tools. This just doesn’t fit with a Long-Term-Strategy of TYPO3 where we want to ensure that the system is maintained without having to update libraries all the time. That’s one of the reasons we haven’t incorporated frameworks like React, Angular or Vue.js. Including such a library is doable, but keeping it up-to-date and stable for years is another story.

My friend Daniel Goerz has built his reputation with usetypo3.com - a great blog with super-detailed references explaining sophisticated TYPO3 features in a way that even people like myself can understand it! Of course, check out b13.com/blog for more insights about TYPO3. But StackOverflow is a great resource if you need help.

Yes, of course! Contribution is not just about development, that’s what’s important. My UX colleagues created great designs and concepts for TYPO3 Backend, and that’s their contribution to TYPO3. If you only have developers, you might miss the most important parts.

There’s no favorite CMS other than TYPO3, but I’m glad to see solutions like Sulu, standing on the shoulders of Giants like Symfony, to build a very flexible CMS for developers to work on.

Family, Friends, Espresso and Jesus.