[TYPO3-core] [TYPO3-project-4-3] Announcing TYPO3 4.3.0alpha1

[Oliver Hader]

The TYPO3 Core Team is proud to announce the first alpha release of
TYPO3 version 4.3. Get a short overview of the most importand changes.

So, what's new in this release?

*General*

Improved caching framework
TYPO3 4.3 ships with a new caching framework that was backported from
FLOW3. It offers different many different methods to store data such as
in the database, in the filesystem and in memcached environments. Cache
entries can also be tagged. This offers very flexible options to handle
caches.

(If you're upgrading your development environment from an older TYPO3
version, please repeat the upgrade process in the database analyzer of
the install tool until no more changes to cache tables are proposed.
This is required to ensure that the new caches work properly.)

Integrated OpenID as authentication service
A new authentication service implements the OpenID features which can be
used for frontend and backend applications. More information about using
and registering can be found on the official OpenID website [1].

Localization of hardcoded phrases
Many phrases that were hardcoded and thus only available in English have
been changed to use a localization file now. The localized versions of
these new labels will be available on the translation server as soon as
they are processed by the translation team.

*Frontend improvements*

Functionality of simulateStaticDocuments extracted to system extension
The functionality of simulate static documents ("MyPage.13.0.html") was
extracted to a system extension. When RealURL or another URL management
extension is installed, simulateStaticDocuments is not required at all
but was executed everytime a user had visited the website.

Functionality of frontend editing extracted to system extension
The functionality of frontend editing was extracted to a system
extension. This is helpful if the functionality is not required at all
on a website and also offers more flexibility for a new enhanced
frontend editing that will come during the development of TYPO3 4.3.

Improved loading of plugin classes
PHP classes for frontend plugins are now loaded only if they are used to
render content. In the past, all available class files for frontend
plugins were loaded so this new feature increases performance by
reducing memory consumption.

*Backend improvements*

TypoScript editor "t3editor" improvements
The TypoScript editor "t3editor" was enhanced with code-completion. Now
you get context-sensitive suggestions about possible properties while
entering TypoScript.

Several RTEhtmlarea improvements
Many enhancements were integrated into RTEhtmlarea like custom colors,
enhanced toggleborders, the support of definition list, and serveral
changes concerning DAM - just to mention a few.

*Next steps to climb the TYPO3 4.3 hill*

Please test this alpha release as much as possible, especially the new
features from alpha1 and those described above! If you're using one of
the new features in a project already and discover bugs, please report
them immediately to http://bugs.typo3.org/ [2]!

During the next few weeks, we will release one more alpha version before
locking down the development of new features. We will then continue with
beta releases which are only meant for bug fixes before turning to
release candidates and the final version of TYPO3 4.3. This means that
you can expect the final version to be ready around the beginning of
February 2009.

For a detailed overview of the features planned for TYPO3 4.3 and their
progress, have a look at the TYPO3 v4 Development Page [3], the
bugtracker, and the ChangeLog.

You can download the packages at http://typo3.org/download/packages/ [4].

MD5 checksums:

76c5d9ea805c4ae97595c7b26f43982e  dummy-4.3.0alpha1.tar.gz
922df11663c1af574d9eea106c7e3b5e  dummy-4.3.0alpha1.zip
a4a3c7073fee6445467f99d2a32feef6  typo3_src-4.3.0alpha1.tar.gz
e6d6c5f48026cf0c181c17ac47e77303  typo3_src-4.3.0alpha1.zip
e83a1cde26c3dbe76d16755ae4e9739b  typo3_src+dummy-4.3.0alpha1.zip


Rock on!
Olly


Links:
[1] http://openid.net/
[2] http://bugs.typo3.org/
[3] http://forge.typo3.org/wiki/typo3v4-core
[4] http://typo3.org/download/packages/

Article as HTML:
[*] http://news.typo3.org/news/article/typo3-43-alpha-1/
-- 
Oliver Hader
TYPO3 4.3 Release Manager