[TYPO3-english] Gridelements, semantic content and the right strategies

[Thomas Skierlo]

Hi Jigal,


Am 16.08.2012 22:14, schrieb Jigal van Hemert:
> Hi,
>
> On 16-8-2012 20:46, Thomas Skierlo wrote:
>> Imagine both FLUIDTEMPLATE and Gridelements (the latter with Fluid
>> support) as system extensions. If the community builds a better
>> templating system, it's easy to uninstall the system extensions and use
>> to community stuff.
>
> Fluid was included because it is the templating system which is used 
> in <some-new-name> (aka Phoenix). Part of the transition path is to 
> implement functionality of both sides in the other product.
>
> But, any community extension can provide a new templating system, a 
> new type of content element, a new anything. System extensions are 
> also extensions; the only difference is that they are shipped with the 
> core and they are installed in a different location.

A line from TYPO3 4.3 Release notes (3 years ago ???): "Extbase and 
Fluid are backports from FLOW3 to bring MVC and a very flexible 
templating engine to TYPO3 v4......it's possible to develop future-proof 
extensions now and easily migrate them to TYPO3 5.0 when it is released."

Now we have 8/2012. Take a look at the TER and look for the most popular 
extensions. Except the excellent news extension, which really has been 
migrated to ExtBase/Fluid, the vast majority of other extensions with 
templated output does not use Extbase/Fluid (I am not talking about 
extensions which can color an otherwise white background green). Even 
check the latest version of Indexed_Search. Still uses good ol markers 
(the Fluid templates are still experimental, non documented and unusable).

You can't expect community developers to build extensions on 
ExtBase/Fluid without leaving the "marker position" yourself. Surely, 
all developers are encouraged to use the "new" foundation. But 
apparently they don't. Again: A grid is part of the basics of a modern 
CMS. If a grid would be included in FE and BE, extension developers 
really would have a foundation for future work. Without an reliable grid 
you'll either have the "Gridelements" way to handle content, or the 
"FED/Flux" way. Better make sure to pick the right one.

Use "Google trends" with search phrase "TYPO3" to get an (unfiltered) 
impression of the situation since 2009. Keep in mind that Google trends 
is mainly influenced by users and integrators.

>
>> Now reverse your thinking. There are no system extensions and you must
>> rely on "gridelements" and/or "FED/Flux", as pure community extensions.
>> You invest hell of a time to convert all of your stuff to the new
>> extension standard - and notice 6 month later that further devolopment
>> has been stopped.
>
> Then your investment represents a value to you. You want to keep that 
> investment. You want to keep the development (or at least maintenance) 
> going on. You offer to help with the development, you hire people to 
> continue development or you take over the extension.

My investment in TV FCE is currently not in danger, since I can still 
use them. This invest will be totally lost when the day comes were old 
school markers are obsolete. There will never be a TemplaVoila for 
Fluid. Sticking to 4.5LTS is no real long term solution. You either 
loose contact to new developement or you lose everything after EOL. To 
avoid this, integrators like me try to use the sophisticated methods 
promoted over years to be ready when day-x comes. So they start with 
FLUIDTEMPLATE, which is really fun to work with. But this is limited to 
the page layout. TYPO3 has nothing to offer for the content. TYPO3 is 
kind of partly pregnant with Fluid.

> This is reality. Dam_frontend was removed from TER due to a security 
> issue and the author didn't respond to mails from the security team. A 
> group stepped forward and wanted to continue development. A month or 
> so later a new version was uploaded to TER.
>
Just imagine how it would be if a severe security issue would be found 
in Ext.gridelements.

Anyhow. My major question has been answered. The official way to handle 
content in August 2012 is marker based.

How can I participate in the gridelements project? Can I just join the 
team via Forge or is there a better way?