TYPO3 Camp Mitteldeutschland 2023 - Impressions from webit!
Recap
TYPO3 Camp Mitteldeutschland 2023
The TYPO3 Camp Mitteldeutschland in Dresden has always been a must-attend event for webit! as a TYPO3 agency. Every year TYPO3 developers, users, and editors from all over Germany come together there to participate in exciting sessions and exchange professional knowledge. We also had 8 webit! team members on site and listened to interesting presentations on TYPO3 for 2 days.
It all started on Thursday with certifications that our colleague Paul successfully completed and with the WarmUp in the Dresden Neustadt.
On Friday and Saturday, as always, the sessions were planned first. With six parallel presentations and 5 possible time slots, this session plan is certainly one of the most comprehensive of TYPO3 Barcamps.
It quickly became clear that the topic of Artificial Intelligence and how it can influence our work with TYPO3 in the future or be integrated into TYPO3 is of particular interest.
This topic was extensively discussed in four different presentations:
AI in Marketing – Alex Hippe
AI in Practice – Wolfgang Wagner
Chat GPT in the Backend – Thomas Schöne
Programming with Github Copilot – Josua Vogel
It was impressive to see how AI technology has already made its way into the field of web development and CMS. With the ai_seo_helper extension by Manuel Schnabel, it is already possible to automatically generate SEO metadata such as the Meta Description and Keywords from page content using AI-based algorithms. Additionally, with the t3_cowriter extension by Netresearch DTT GmbH, a digital assistant can help optimize text content on a page directly in the Rich Text Editor. These applications demonstrate the potential that technology can have in the future to assist editors in content creation and capture. In particular, the integration of Chat GPT into the TYPO3 backend could play an important role. An example of this is the solver extension by Elias Häußler. This extension provides detailed solution proposals prepared by AI in case of a TYPO3 error output. It is therefore advisable to start exploring the topic now and to discover the opportunities and possibilities that AI offers for web development and CMS.
However, other topics were also addressed during the Barcamp. The range of different presentations was particularly impressive. With 30 sessions per day, there was something for everyone.
For developers:
Automated TYPO3 Deployment with Gitlab CI – Pierre Geyer (Recording)
• Creating and modifying fields in TCA using the TCA Builders (tcabuilder by Thomas Löffler)
• TYPO3 Caching Systems – Frank Nägler
• Pseudonymization of Databases – Ralf Zimmermann
• Kubernetes Introduction – Norbert Sendetzky
Or for project managers:
• Accessibility (Content Optimization) – Steffi (moveelevetor)
• Accessibility Certification – Carolin Jacob (Recording)
• Major Updates TYPO3 (for PMs) – Panel Discussion - Johanna Burchardi, Julia Irrgang from portrino
• The 7 Deadly Sins of Project Management – Luisa Faßbender
Our colleagues were particularly impressed by the session on the Project Builder extension by Ilias Häusler. Here, we were able to gather many inspirations on how to automate various steps in project initialization to focus more on programming.
Also, Oliver Klee's session on Team Motivation - how motivation in teams can be increased through gamification - was very enlightening for us. Based on role-playing games, team members are assigned character roles and traits. Tasks and goals are created as so-called completed quest routes. These can then be completed by a selected team. What may seem quite
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25 years of TYPO3
The TYPO3 CMS will celebrate its 25th anniversary on April 18, 2023. It is truly impressive how long TYPO3 has been around and how well it can hold its ground in the market. On this occasion, Daniel Fau (CEO) of TYPO3 GmbH and Luisa FaĂźbender (Marketing Lead TYPO3) took the opportunity to look back on the past and provide an outlook for the next 10 years. Since 2022, TYPO3 GmbH has been self-financing and aims to use these resources to take on a stronger role in developing the TYPO3 Core and supporting the various development teams. Like many things in today's world, ELTS versions will become more expensive in the future, but there will be a 25% discount for members of the TYPO3 Association - so it will be much more worthwhile than before to support the TYPO3 project with a membership.
Our own contributions
Of course, we will not miss the opportunity to contribute some of our own posts to the camp. Our colleague Annett Jähnichen, in her role as a member of the TYPO3 UX team, has discussed new features in TYPO3 v12 together with Frank Nägler (CTO TYPO3 GmbH).
The new TYPO3 version 12 is packed with new features for developers as well as for editors. In addition to new functions such as WebHooks, Reactions, and ContentSecurityPolicy modules, especially in the TYPO3 backend, some UX improvements have been made.
For example, the page and file list module has been revised and is now designed to be more modern and user-friendly. In the file list module, files can now be moved using drag and drop. Furthermore, the search function in the backend has been completely revised and can now provide even more targeted support to editors in finding content. More information about TYPO3 v12 and how the new modules and features can be used will soon be available in a dedicated blog post.
The session on the submitted feature Content Blocks of the TYPO3 Structured Content Initiative also generated great interest. As announced at the TYPO3 Developer Days, the popular extension Mask and the previous POC version of the Content Blocks Registration API have been merged into a core extension called "TYPO3 Content Blocks". This provides an easy way to create custom content elements that even developers without deep TYPO3 knowledge can work with. In a session, our colleague Lidia Demin (Initiative Lead) provided an update on the current status and the future plans of the feature.
Conclusion
As every year, our colleagues especially enjoy the direct exchange between sessions with old and new acquaintances. The opportunity to share collected positive and negative experiences within the community is a real added value for our work with TYPO3 and constantly inspires us. The camp was very well attended this year, and we were also very impressed by the number of sessions and their variety. Even with 8 colleagues on site, we unfortunately couldn't attend all the presentations.
We had a lot of fun again and we will gladly come back. After the camp is before the camp! The next TYPO3 Camp Mitteldeutschland will take place from March 14th to 16th, 2024 - of course again in our beautiful Dresden - and we are already looking forward to it!
Here is a short personal recap from our working student Yasmin Haustein, who attended a TYPO3 event this year as a newbie:
Yasmin Haustein
"I was at the T3CMD for the first time on Saturday and found the sessions still exciting on the second day. In most cases, I couldn't decide which of the presentations to listen to. It was great that all the presentations in the large room were recorded, so I could also focus on more specific topics in a smaller setting on site. I actually found all the presentations meaningful in their own way, but the most interesting moments for me were when I could engage in conversations with others. In one session, for example, we formed groups to discuss possible improvements for the Translation Handling of TYPO3. Hearing different perspectives and experiences from other use cases and brainstorming solutions together was very exciting. The last session for me was on the topic of Team Motivation, and Oliver Klee's presentation on Gamification and epic quests in the workplace definitely inspired me as well."
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