TypoScript
Few systems, commercial or open source, are as powerful as TYPO3. TypoScript allows developers and end users to fully harness this power. TypoScript is a declarative language like HTML and Javascript used to configure extensions and the template engine.
For non-programmers TypoScript is easier to work with than PHP. TypoScript allows a single extension to be recycled and used differently on different pages without altering the original PHP code or template files.
For example you can use a registration form extension on 2 or more pages for different data gathering purposes and user groups. The same may apply to calendar, image gallery, and other extensions. Default XML or PHP language files used by extensions can also be altered through TypoScript!
Be sure to check out the new TypoScript Editor and First sketches of TypoScript 2.0!
- Click to enlarge
TypoScript is similar in function to XSLT. For a comparative analysis of TypoScript vs XSLT and to learn why TypoScript was implemented over XSLT Click Here
The amount of TypoScript you need to know depends on what you want to do with TYPO3. For template designers and administrators less TypoScript knowledge is needed than for programmers. No TypoScript knowledge is needed for front end and back end content managers and authors.
This TypoScript section will focus primarily on adding new TypoScript resources containing code/snippets for TSconfig and Constants/Setup as time permits. To learn more about TypoScript read TypoScript By Example.
For and overview of TypoScript values and properties read the TSref Guide (TyposScript Reference) and TypoScript Syntax and In-depth Study. Here's a nice short article about Easier TypoScript Editing