Templating Starter Kit for TYPO3 v9 LTS

Introduction

It is considered good practice to save anything related to your website theme in a separate extension (a so-called Site package):

• HTML (or rather Fluid) templates
• Stylesheets
• JavaScripts
• theme images (like logos and icons)
• any configurations (TypoScript, TSconfig, YAML, ...)
• overrides of third-party extensions (e.g. configuration and templates)
• overrides of the TYPO3 core, e.g. new database fields

This TYPO3 extension can be a base for your website configuration. Add your Stylesheets, JavaScripts and templates, adapt the supplied configurations to your needs.

It will not impose any Frontend Framework on you. You're free to use your favourite Framework or custom templates.

You want to use Bootstrap for your new website? In that case I recommend the bootstrap_package extension. This will provide you with a complete integration of Bootstrap in TYPO3.

Features

• meaningful directory structure to manage your files
• essential TypoScript Setup, which you can integrate as a Static Template
• basic TSconfig, e.g. useful RTE configurations.
• both TypoScript and TSconfig are divided into smaller partials for more clarity
• all configurations can be easily adjusted

How to use this extension

Installation

1. Copy this extension into the folder typo3conf/ext/ of your TYPO3 installation.
2. You may want to rename the extension.
   1. Rename the folder from basetemplate9 to your desired name, e.g. clientname. Keep the naming conventions for extensions in mind!¹
   2. Search and replace all occurences of basetemplate9 with the new chosen name. Replacing is fast and easy if you use a professional text editor and don't use underscores.²
3. Open the Extension Manager in the TYPO3 backend and install the extension.
4. Include the Static Template of this extension in your TypoScript root template (sys_template). Make sure that it is loaded last in the list. This will allow you to override configurations and templates from other extensions.
5. Include the desired Page TSconfig resources in the page properties of your root page.
6. Begin to add your HTML/Fluid templates and adapt the configuration.

Customizing

Using BackendLayouts and Fluid templates

For every column you create in a single BackendLayout, you have to set an individual colPos number. You should however reuse these values across your other BackendLayouts. It allows the editors to change the layout of a page while keeping the content in place.

Set the colPos values wisely. The content of e.g. the top column shouldn't suddenly move to the bottom when changing layouts.

Linking a BackendLayout to a Fluid template:

page.10 {
    file.stdWrap.cObject {
        key.data = pagelayout
        // Important! If you set BackendLayouts through TSconfig, you MUST use the prefix 'pagets__':
        pagets__2_columns_66_33 = TEXT
        pagets__2_columns_66_33.value = EXT:basetemplate9/Resources/Private/Templates/2Columns-66-33.html
        default = TEXT
        default.value = EXT:basetemplate9/Resources/Private/Templates/1Column.html
    }
}

The TypoScript lib.dynamicContent will take care of rendering the desired column's content in your Fluid templates.

All you have to do is inserting the following f:cObject viewhelper into your Fluid template and adapt the colPos value:

<f:cObject typoscriptObjectPath="lib.dynamicContent" data="{colPos: '0'}"/>

More details: TYPO3 Site Package tutorial, Chapter 'Content Mapping'

Overriding third-party extensions

At some point, you'll need to customize templates from extensions like news. You should save all these modifications in your Site Package, too.

I recommend to store them inside the subdirectory Resources/Private/EXT/ to separate them from your website templates.

In case of EXT:news, this will result in the following directory structure:

Resources/Private/EXT/news/Templates/
Resources/Private/EXT/news/Partials/
Resources/Private/EXT/news/Layouts/

You'll have to set these paths in TypoScript. All TypoScript configurations for third party extensions should be stored in Configuration/TypoScript/plugin/plugin.[extensionKey].typoscript.

Further hints

Syntax highlighting

With TYPO3 version 8.7.2, the file extensions .typoscript and .tsconfig have become the new defaults. Add these to your editor to benefit from TypoScript syntax highlighting again. In PhpStorm, open Settings/Preferences and add the patterns *.typoscript and *.tsconfig to TypoScript in Editor | Code Style.

Footnotes

[1] TYPO3 extensions have some naming conventions. See: https://extensions.typo3.org/about-extension-repository/extension-keys/

[2] Also be very careful when using underscores in your extension name! It is highly encouraged to avoid them. If you e.g. choose the name client_templates_2016, you'll have to use two notations! In links like EXT:client_templates_2016/link/to/file.css, use the actual folder name. When using constants however, you'll have to remove all underscores and prefix tx_: $plugin.tx_clienttemplates2016!