[TYPO3-announce] TYPO3 Association releases Version 4.2: Focus on Usability and Performance Improvements

[Ingo Renner]

Dear TYPO3 users,

BAAR - The TYPO3 Association has released a new version of their very  
successful open source project. TYPO3 has been downloaded over  
3.000.000 times from Sourceforge.org which makes it one of the World's  
leading enterprise Open Source products.

The main focus of the new 4.2 version is improving usability, but  
there are also many enhancements for system administrators and  
developers. Including bug fixes, there are nearly 650 enhancements in  
TYPO3 4.2.


In addition, the new TYPO3 version now requires at least PHP 5.2.0 in  
order to run. PHP 4 has served the web developer community for over  
seven years, but its time has passed. PHP 5 was released three years  
ago and offers many improvements. In partnership with other popular  
open source projects, TYPO3 joined the “goPHP5” initiative and agreed  
to move to PHP 5 and to formally stop supporting PHP 4.

This release incorporated substantial changes to the TYPO3 backend  
interface aiming to improve the usability for end users. Major new  
features include a top stationary icon and option bar called a  
“document header”, tabbed forms for editing page properties and  
content elements, page-type dropdown menu items grouped by categories,  
and currently open documents accessible via the document header bar.

The "Cleaner Backend Project" which began with TYPO3 4.0 continued its  
task to restructure the TYPO3 backend. This included enhancements to  
the included t3skin extension, which improves the overall appearance  
as well.
TYPO3 uses “htmlArea” as the default Rich Text Editor (RTE) for  
content editing. The RTE has been updated with several enhancements  
including support for Apple’s Safari browser and many bug fixes. In  
addition, for developers, a new plug-in API enables TYPO3 extensions  
to extend the RTE.

The Template Module now includes an improved TypoScript editor with  
syntax highlighting, code snippets, and more. Also, the Constant  
Editor incorporates a more intuitive interface that eliminates the  
need for a checkbox next to each field.

TYPO3 4.2. has a new login-box system extension called "felogin". This  
is an enhanced version of the "newloginbox" extension, and is now  
integrated into the TYPO3 core. When installed, the new extension will  
replace the old login content element. The new extension comes with a  
new redirection framework and many configuration options, but runs  
well using only the default settings.

The Workspaces module with its workflow features was introduced in  
TYPO3 4.0 and has been improved in TYPO3 4.2. Kasper Skårhøj  
implemented the long-desired feature to more-easily move elements in a  
workspace. In addition, workspace element "swapping" is now possible  
for new and deleted elements just as it has been for changed elements.  
Also, workspace updates can now be previewed by users who do not have  
a backend user account. A special link enables access and that link  
can be sent via e-mail.
Several performance improvements have been included in TYPO3 4.2 as  
well. Speed enhancements have been made to indexed search, local  
caches, caching of language files, and internal handling of the  
character set. Also, the "Page is being generated" message has been  
eliminated using a new locking mechanism.

Core Team Leader, Michael Stucki, states, "I'm really proud of the new  
version and what we have accomplished. There have been so many changes  
and improvements that it's really difficult to focus on just one  
aspect. TYPO3 4.2 is the result of a combined community effort  
resulting in a wide range of new functions."
The TYPO3 Association is sure both developers and end-users will  
appreciate this new version which will contribute to the continued  
growth of this already highly successful open source project.

TYPO3 version 4.2 can be downloaded directly from http://typo3.org/download/ 
. Technical documentation and the release notes can be found at http://typo3.org/development/articles/release-notes-42 
.


-- 
Ingo Renner
TYPO3 Core Developer, Release Manager TYPO3 4.2



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