[TYPO3] Typo3 vs other CMSs

[Michael Scharkow]

Christoph Herrmann wrote:

> In comparison: I started 1 hour ago to look into Joomla. Installed in 5 
> minutes. Read and understood template creation tutorials and have 
> already the first very basic template up and running. The interface is 
> much clearer, I have control over all aspects of my page/template, I did 
> not have to learn a new coding language. I do not have to study code for 
> hours to add a news elemtn, I just click an icon, I do not have to study 
> for hours to add a blog element, I just click an icon etc etc.
> 
> 1 hour against 42 hours and I'm pretty much at the same stage!!!

Comparing the time and effort to build a site X with layout Y isn't a 
valid indicator I guess. It's like comparing programming languages by 
what the "hello, world" source looks like. There might be some inference 
be drawn from it, but it could just as well be wrong. It's perfectly 
possible that your requirements are so fixed on blog/news portal that 
it's no wonder you actually like blog/portal software better than more 
generic CMS like TYPO3.

> So, to go through all this pain typo3 must have some serious advantages 
> over other CMSs. And I want the time I spent to be of use and continue 
> using Typo3 (and not just that I'm a more knowledgeable person now :)). 
> So: When and why should I use Typo3 and not any of the other CMSs? What 
> makes it more powerful? Why does everyone stick around when there are 
> seeminhly easier options available? Which clients should I develop a 
> Typo3 based website for and which should I use other systems for?

I'm not going over the features of TYPO3 compared to X again, just 
follow Joey's hint. If you find your needs for a CMS fulfilled with 
Joomla or Wordpress, congratulations, you are lucky to have such 
suitable (low) requirements and both are doing a great job for serving 
blog posts or articles. So if you find yourself perfectly happy with 
what Joomla or whatever offers it would be an absurd waste of time 
learning TYPO3.

For most of us TYPO3 users, Joomla and Wordpress just don't cut it in 
many cases (not all, I have just migrated a friend's site from TYPO3 to 
WP because it's better suited for his blog). Think multi-language, 
multi-domain sites, think non-standard layouts, repeatable content 
elements, on-the-fly-graphical-headers and menus, etc. (Oh, not again 
the feature list ;))

Unfortunately, you have to find out yourself if the simplicity of the 
alternatives will seriously hamper you later on, but if you're content 
now with the simpler CMS, why choose TYPO3?

Cheers,
Michael