The TYPO3 RTE is quite flexible. One easily proven aspect, is by the ability to select what CSS styling to apply by highlighting some text and choosing a custom CSS class from a drop-down. Furthermore, making this happen only takes a few minutes.

There's 2 basic steps to making custom CSS classes available in the RTE.

1. Create custom classes in your CSS stylesheet, with only one per line.
2. Modify the RTE via Page TSConfig
   1. Link the RTE to the site CSS stylesheet
   2. Assign the custom classes to text types

Sample content.css with custom classes.

.coding { font-family: monospace; font-size: 1.1em;}
.note {background: #dfd; padding: 1em; border-top: 1px #bdb dotted; border-bottom: 1px #bdb dotted;}
.important {background: #ffd; padding: 1em; border-top: 1px #ddb dotted; border-bottom: 1px #ddb dotted;}
.warning {background: #fdd; padding: 1em; border-top: 1px #dbb dotted; border-bottom: 1px #dbb dotted;}
.float_left { float: left; display:inline; margin-right: 1em; margin-bottom: 0.15em;}
.float_right { float: right; display:inline; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 0.15em;}
.center { text-align:center; margin: 0.5em auto}

/* these are for showing alignment in RTE on the backend */
.align-left { text-align: left; }
.align-center { text-align: center; }
.align-right { text-align: right; }
.align-justify { text-align: justify; }

RTE Page TSConfig sample

RTE {
    default {
        # link to site css stylesheet
        contentCSS = fileadmin/templates/css/screen/content.css

        # clear typical styling
        classesAnchor >
        classesLinks =
        # set classes available to these properties. Paragraph is another name
        # for block
        classesCharacter := addToList(coding, note, important, warning)
        classesParagraph := addToList(coding, note, important, warning, float_left, center, float_right)
        classesTD := addToList(sub)
        classesTable := addToList(full, fixed)

        # list all available classes here, otherwise they're removed on RTE save
        proc.allowedClasses := addToList(coding, note, important, warning, float_left, center, float_right, sub, full, fixed)
    }
}

In the above Page TSConfig, we adjust the CSS stylesheet being referenced via contentCSS. A relative file path is from the website root with TYPO3 installed is sufficient.

Next, as we want to supplement, not replace the classes applicable, we use the addToList TypoScript function to add our custom CSS classes. These CSS classes are assigned to specific text types, like block text-strings, elements and tables as shown by the classesCharacter & classesParagraph samples.

Once you add your custom classes, you must make sure all of them are listed in the proc.allowedClasses property. Otherwise, your custom classes will not show up.

Reference

• rtehtmlarea - FAQ: How do I configure the editor to use my CSS styles?
• TYPO3 Best Practices

If you've got problems or questions, ask them in our comments section.
--
Acqal Corporation is an official TYPO3 agency built upon over 40 years of Internet-based software and usability experience. Our TYPO3 offerings include website migration, extension support, templates and tutorials.

Please subscribe to Acqal Newsletter and Acqal Blogging via Email or RSS Feed .

© 2009 Acqal Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Acqal Exec Team Going to T3CON09

We are excited that the Acqal Executive Team will all be at T3CON09 in Frankfurt, for a variety of reasons. First is the conference itself, including tutorial day. The amount that may be learned is amazing and hard to describe. This year, there will be additional tracks, so there will be something for anyone connected with TYPO3 in any way, from developers, agency project managers, users, potential users, company representatives researching content management systems, designers, marketers, and everyone in between.

Next is the opportunity to meet old friends and meet new ones, including face-to-face meeting people we know from the Internet or by reputation, but have never actually met. Plus, meeting completely new people. The opportunity for making friends and networking is probably the most important part of any industry conference.

There is also the opportunity for meetings with people from other companies who are interested in discussing potential business endeavors. I already have two meetings set up with principles from other companies interested in exploring mutually beneficial relationships. We will be there from 7 September to the 13th, so can be available both before and during the conference. Being there before the conference especially offers opportunities to meet with European companies looking for a US or Asian connection (we have offices in two US states and Taiwan). If anyone would like to get together with one of us or all three, please let us know. I missed many opportunities at the last T3CON I attended just due to no prior planning.

• Michael Canon - mc[at]acqal[dot]com - TYPO3 technical guru, sales and marketing, business development
• Virgil Huston - vh[at]acqal[dot]com - Training and training business development, project management, human resources
• Nicole Johnson - nj[at]acqal[dot]com - Design and design business development, sales and marketing, SEO

New Extension: Teaserbar

I haven't tried this one yet, just heard about it today, but it looks pretty interesting and useful. Mario Rimann has created an extension that shows large teaser images to convey an emotional image to the visitor of the website.

From Mario's blog:

And, once again, if you haven't taken the TYPO3 Training Survey, click here and do it now! It only takes ten minutes.
--
Acqal Corporation is an official TYPO3 agency built upon over 40 years of Internet-based software and usability experience. Our TYPO3 offerings include website migration, extension support, templates and tutorials.

Please subscribe to Acqal Newsletter and Acqal Blogging via Email or RSS Feed .

© 2009 Acqal Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

The recent release of FLOW3 1.0.0 alpha 1 has caused quite a buzz in the TYPO3 community and should also be creating a similar buzz in the PHP development community as a whole. There is also some confusion in the TYPO3 world regarding FLOW3 and the upcoming release of TYPO3 version 5.0 versus the current version 4.X.

Spring was an appropriate time to put out the first FLOW3 release as this is a season of rebirth. It reminds me of the wren that built its nest and raised its three chicks in our basement this spring. The bird nest was a surprise and fun to keep an eye on. We also worried that our presence would interfere with the safety of the eggs and then chicks. We had to leave the door to the outside open until the mother bird was settled down for the night and remember to reopen it in the morning so she could get food for herself and her babies during the day. All turned out well, the eggs hatched, momma bird raised her chicks and when it was time, the chicks took flight and went out into the world on their own.

Change is always a stressful thing for people to deal with and TYPO3 version 5, which will be built using the FLOW3 framework, is no exception. Yet, I think this is the best thing that has ever happened to TYPO3.

Ever since the development of TYPO3 version 5 was announced and it became known that the new version would be a complete departure from earlier versions, some people have been worried that it would hurt business for TYPO3 agencies. Version 4 would be the last in its line and not be  compatible with version 5. People worried that potential clients would not opt for the current versions fearing that they would have to completely redo their web sites after version 5 was released. If they did not go to that expense, they would be stuck with a soon to be outdated CMS.

At T3CON07, Kasper and others gave talks on how the transition would work and attempted to ease people's fears. Now, in 2009, they have surpassed all expectations. At this point in the development of version 5, the team could not have done a better job, this is probably the best transition start of its kind I have ever seen. Here is why in a nutshell:

• FLOW3 is a new and improved PHP development framework that TYPO3 version will be built on. But, the new framework has far wider application in the PHP development world. Not only will it be optimized for TYPO3, it will bring TYPO3 awareness to a much wider audience due to the association of the two. Pretty clever, I think, as a marketing strategy.

• TYPO3 version 4.X will continue to be supported for years to come. This will hopefully calm some of those fears of being stuck with an outdated CMS.

• The TYPO3 version 5 team is making it a priority to make it as painless as possible for extension developers to transition their extensions to the new version.

So, far, it looks like everything is being done right and this will be very good for TYPO3.
--
Acqal Corporation is an official TYPO3 agency built upon over 40 years of Internet-based software and usability experience. Our TYPO3 offerings include website migration, extension support, templates and tutorials.

Please subscribe to Acqal Newsletter and Acqal Blogging via Email or RSS Feed .

© 2009 Acqal Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

The 10 website essentials have below been pulled together by combing over 16 years of online content publishing and website basics research. More importantly, these essentials are ordered by frequency of consensus by fellow web content management agencies and consultants.

Through this simplified and consolidated knowledge, you can be sure that these website essentials offer the most solid foundation possible for your website.

Content

There's a current day meme of “content is king” that states without quality, direct and insight content, your audience will leave your site and search engines won't build up results with your website in them. Give readers and search engines something worthwhile to read.

Spend time writing, it's worth it. A couple of recently read research articles have reported that a single quality web page of content is worth $ 7,000 over its lifetime. So, research and write for a few hours to earn $ 2,333 an hour. That's time well spent.

Targeted content can be written using the AIDA style: Attention, Interest, Detail and Action.

Attention

Catch the readers eye. Bright, shiny things...

Interest

You've got the readers eyeball on target now, so give them a reason to read more. Bait the reader...

Detail

Give the reader some useful information. Convince them that you're the professional that can solve their problem. Hook the reader...

Action

Typically called a call to action, this is usually a form requesting the readers email in trade for a white paper or sample of some kind. Essentially, you're turning the reader into a sales lead. Reel the reader in...

Interaction

Besides content, engaging your readers through videos, images, blogging, events, social networking, newsletters, comments and more gives reasons for them to return.

Contact Information

Make your underlying business address, phone number and email addresses readily accessible for your site visitors. Don't hide this information, else you'll stand a good chance to make visitors feel insecure.

Design

If you're going to have a look beyond black text on white background, hire a professional. They'll be able to create a look and feel and layout that'll work with your branding and give a positive, unique look.

There's nothing tackier than dated layouts, typography and graphics that look like Word Art was used.

Accessibility

On two fronts, not all visitors “see” and use content presentation that makes sense. If you're going to use images or videos, be sure that there are textual alternatives for the blind. Next, if you're going to make a data chart, does that information presented actually convey what you want it to?

Maintenance

Behind the scenes, the website should be easy to update in regards to templates, pages and content. Dynamic websites based upon web content management systems like TYPO3 and Wordpress are excellent tools for enabling authors and editors to create and edit pages and content anytime they can open an Internet browser.

If your authors and editors can't easily maintain the website, content will go stall and visitors will stop coming as they're bored and think you don't care anymore.

SEO

Search engine optimization, SEO, generally means optimizing page title, META keyword & description, URLs and link text found in your website for improved placement in search engine results.

This SEO work plus quality content play key parts in getting your website found by visitors don't know you're offering exactly what they need. These visitors will only find you through search engine results.

Usability

Don't make your website visitors work to get around your website. When laying out the site, think about navigation and information architecture. A sitemap can help with the website overview, but if you've got 10,000 pages, a sitemap might be overwhelming when information architecture hasn't been thought through.

Grammar and Spelling

Critically check your grammar and spelling even after spell check is ran. Read your content aloud and ensure what you wrote is really what you want to say. Even better, save what you've done and come back to it an hour later and then check again before publishing.

Sample and Trials

An easy way to increase sales and drive traffic to your website is to offer working product samples and no-cost, time-limited trials.
--
Acqal Corporation is an official TYPO3 agency built upon over 40 years of Internet-based software and usability experience. Our TYPO3 offerings include website migration, extension support, templates and tutorials.

Please subscribe to Acqal Newsletter and Acqal Blogging via Email or RSS Feed .

© 2009 Acqal Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

• It is perfect size and unbelievably portable, makes my laptop look like ENIAC. One reason I have never had a palm device or Blackberry is that I can't deal with the tiny keyboards. The mini has a 92% sized keyboard and it rocks.
• While some reviews I read criticized HP for using Windows XP as the operating system, I see this as a plus. I hate Vista, I know XP, and software I want to run on the mini will work. XP has its faults, but it is still Microsoft's best OS, in my opinion.
• Again, the 80GB hard drive has also been criticized as too small, but I see it as fine for me and the purposes the mini serves.
• It boots up quickly and comes with only a few software "freebies" that you will want to get rid of, like the Norton trial, AIM, and MS Works. Not like the tons of garbage that comes on a laptop or desktop.
• Works like a champ on a ethernet, wireless, and the Verizon broadband network.
• Will work overseas with temporarily switching to the Global plan, or, if you travel a lot, you can get the global plan from the start ($ 129/mo)
• Has a built-in webcam
• Has built in Bluetooth

Cons

• Took me a long time to get it to work on my wireless network, your mileage may vary. Once working, all was good with the world
• AC power connector is loose, you have to be aware when it is not actually connected.
• Comes with 1GB of RAM, expandable to 2GB, but you can't get it from Verizon online, you have to go to one of their stores. My solution is to just buy the memory from somewhere else at a better price.
• Comes with a 3-cell battery, good for around 2.5 hours. The optional 6-cell battery is $ 149 from Verizon. I have found them a lot cheaper on ebay and some online stores.
• Has two USB connections, not much if you are going to use a mouse, but you can always plug in a hub.
• Has a VGA port, but requires an adapter to connect to a monitor or projector.
• Does not have MS Power Point, but does have a Power Point viewer so you can give presentations (I installed Open Office and I could have installed MS Office if I had wanted to, I suppose).
• Comes with MS Works, a worthless program if I ever saw one.
• Touchpad is the worst feature, but I don't like touchpads, in any case, I'll be using a mouse most of the time.

Some of the cons could actually be considered pros, and the pros outweigh the cons on an overall basis in a big way. I highly recommend this computer.

I plan to keep my mini lean and mean. I uninstalled software I don't need and have installed only Skype and Open Office so far. I may add a couple more items, but not many.

Please take the Training Methods Survey!
--
Acqal Corporation is an official TYPO3 agency built upon over 40 years of Internet-based software and usability experience. Our TYPO3 offerings include website migration, extension support, templates and tutorials.

Please subscribe to Acqal Newsletter and Acqal Blogging via Email or RSS Feed .

© 2009 Acqal Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

I am really looking forward to T3CON09. I get to see European friends and meet more, learn more and more about TYPO3, and I have an excuse to go to Germany. I love Europe, I would live there if it were practical. Hopefully, at least I will be able to retire there,

Back in the day, I spent five years in Germany, in a small village called Merzalben, not far from Pirmasens, where I worked while a soldier in the US Army. We were 15 minutes from an unguarded border crossing to France, so also went there often (that was before the open borders).

I was the only American in Merzalben, I was not one of those Americans who complained that German beer is not like US Budweiser (which is swill) and wanted nothing to do with the people whose country we were living in. I loved it there. After T3CON07, I took my wife to Merzalben and it really hadn't changed a bit and the ruins of Grafenstein still silently overlooked the village.

During World War II, my landlord's father and he had reinforced the old tower for anti-aircraft guns (they were masons). Then Alfons (my landlord) was sent to the eastern front, where he was eventually captured and spent years in a Siberian salt mining camp. He didn't get home until 1948 or so. He was 73 years old back then and cooked with a wood stove/oven and had a wood fired hot water heater. He could bake bread better than any electric oven. He spoke broken English and I very broken German, so for a long time, I thought the German word for "money" was "monig," his way of saying the English word.

OK, so you can tell I am looking forward to getting back to Germany.

T3CON09 is being held in Frankfurt at the Holiday Inn Frankfurt City South Hotel. It looks like a really nice place for a conference and expensive for a room. But, I checked yesterday to see prices and found it was fully booked already. So are half the other hotels and even hostels I looked up.

I know I can find a place to stay somewhere, hopefully somewhere that won't take me hours to get to the conference. But what really disappoints me is that one of the major advantages of a conference like T3CON09 is that the majority of the attendees are staying in the same place. People can gather at nearby bars and restaurants or in the hotel itself and not have to travel to and from a hotel somewhere else. At a minimum, people should all be able to stay within a short distance from the conference location.

I would like to see an effort to identify good and inexpensive hotels, self-catering lodgings, etc., where T3CON09 attendees can concentrate since we can't all stay at the same hotel.

On the Typo3 Training Methods Effectiveness Survey. I am really happy to see good participation, mainly from Europe and the US, but also from other places. I would like to get as many responses as possible from across the world, especially countries with large concentrations of people working with TYPO3, such as India, Ukraine, and Russia, just to name a few.

So, if you haven't already taken the survey, please do. Click here.

I would also appreciate any promotion you could give the survey on your blogs, tell your friends, etc.

Once more here is the link :-) http://www.acqal.com/typo3-tutorial-typo3-video/training-method-survey/

If anyone coming to the conference is from the southern Rheinland-Pfalz or Saarland, please bring me a Parkbrauerei Perminator!
--
Acqal Corporation is an official TYPO3 agency built upon over 40 years of Internet-based software and usability experience. Our TYPO3 offerings include website migration, extension support, templates and tutorials.

Please subscribe to Acqal Newsletter and Acqal Blogging via Email or RSS Feed .

© 2009 Acqal Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Cephalon.com news product and Archive Menu

Cephalon.com is one of the world’s top ten biopharmaceutical companies with over 30 products worldwide for innovative treatments of central nervous system disorders, pain and cancer. Instead of trying to create a specific page for the top products, they let the product's menu listing be auto-generated. On a similar note, the annual archive is auto-generated as well. 

How-to for news product and Archive Menu

This implementation of tt_news categories or archives into the navigation structure by Custom Media Labs is really one of the neatest combination of TypoScript and news content elements that I've ever come across.

In essence, the menu is created via multiple HMENU and TMENU objects as normal. However, the news year and category aspects are incorporated into the menu via RECORDS objects surrounded by TEXT objects to properly open and close the ordered tags.

By creating each part of the menu as an independent object and then joining it together in a COA object, maintenance is made simple. The TypoScript follows.

#Remove Anchor Tags
tt_content.stdWrap.dataWrap >

lib.first_sub_nav = HMENU 
lib.first_sub_nav.special = list
lib.first_sub_nav.special.value = 13
lib.first_sub_nav {
	1 = TMENU
	1 {
		noBlur = 1
		expAll=0
		wrap =  | 
		NO.allWrap = <li>|</li>
		NO.stdWrap.field = title
		NO.doNotLinkIt = 1
		NO.stdWrap.htmlSpecialChars = 1
		ACT < .NO 
		ACT = 1
		ACT.allWrap = <li class="section">|</li>

		IFSUB < .NO
		IFSUB = 1
		IFSUB.allWrap = <li class="section">|</li>

		ACTIFSUB < .NO
		ACTIFSUB = 1
		ACTIFSUB.allWrap = <li class="section">|</li>

		CURIFSUB < .IFSUB
		CURIFSUB = 1
		CURIFSUB.allWrap = <li class="section">|</li>
	} 
}

lib.second_sub_nav1 = HMENU 
lib.second_sub_nav1.special = list
lib.second_sub_nav1.special.value = 81
lib.second_sub_nav1.entryLevel = 1
lib.second_sub_nav1{
	1 = TMENU
	1 {
		noBlur = 1
		expAll=0
		wrap =  | 
		NO.allWrap = <li>|
		NO.stdWrap.field = title
		NO.stdWrap.htmlSpecialChars = 1

		ACT < .NO 
		ACT = 1
		ACT.allWrap = <li class="open">|
	} 
	2 = 
}

lib.second_sub_nav2 = HMENU 
lib.second_sub_nav2.special = list
lib.second_sub_nav2.special.value = 267
lib.second_sub_nav2.entryLevel = 1
lib.second_sub_nav2{
	1 = TMENU
	1 {
		noBlur = 1
		expAll=0
		wrap =  | 
		NO.allWrap = <ul><li class="close">|</li>
		NO.stdWrap.field = title
		NO.stdWrap.htmlSpecialChars = 1

		ACT < .NO 
		ACT = 1
		ACT.allWrap = <li class="open">|
	} 
}

lib.second_sub_nav3 = HMENU 
lib.second_sub_nav3.special = list
lib.second_sub_nav3.special.value = 269
lib.second_sub_nav3.entryLevel = 1
lib.second_sub_nav3{
	1 = TMENU
	1 {
		noBlur = 1
		expAll=0
		wrap =  | 
		NO.allWrap = <li>|
		NO.stdWrap.field = title
		NO.stdWrap.htmlSpecialChars = 1

		ACT < .NO 
		ACT = 1
		ACT.allWrap = <li class="open">|
	} 
}

lib.second_sub_nav4 = RECORDS
lib.second_sub_nav4.dontCheckPid = 1
lib.second_sub_nav4.tables = tt_content
lib.second_sub_nav4.source = 481

lib.second_sub_nav5 = TEXT
lib.second_sub_nav5.value = </ul></li>

lib.second_sub_nav6 = HMENU 
lib.second_sub_nav6.special = list
lib.second_sub_nav6.special.value = 80,103,79
lib.second_sub_nav6.entryLevel = 1
lib.second_sub_nav6{
	1 = TMENU
	1 {
		noBlur = 1
		expAll=0
		wrap =  | </ul>
		NO.allWrap = <li>|</li>
		NO.stdWrap.field = title
		NO.stdWrap.htmlSpecialChars = 1

		ACT < .NO 
		ACT = 1
		ACT.allWrap = <li class="selected">|</li>

		IFSUB < .NO
		IFSUB = 1
		IFSUB.allWrap = <li class="close">|</li>

		ACTIFSUB < .NO
		ACTIFSUB = 1
		ACTIFSUB.allWrap = <li class="open">| 

		CURIFSUB < .IFSUB
		CURIFSUB = 1
		CURIFSUB.allWrap = <li class="open">|  
	}
}

lib.sub_nav = COBJ_ARRAY
lib.sub_nav {
    30 < lib.first_sub_nav
    40 < lib.second_sub_nav1
    50 < lib.second_sub_nav2
    60 < lib.second_sub_nav3
    70 < lib.second_sub_nav4
    80 < lib.second_sub_nav5
    90 < lib.second_sub_nav6
}

plugin.tt_news {
    displayCatMenu {
       catmenu_stdWrap.wrap = <ul>|</ul>
       catmenuHeader_stdWrap.wrap = 
       catmenuItem_ACT_stdWrap.wrap = <li class="selected">|</li>
    }
    displayFirstCategory = 1
}

In above, lib.second_sub_nav4 is where the News Releases Products Menu content element is included into the menu structure as the category menu. As you can see below, it's a very simple news content element of the CATMENU view.

Topconpositioning.com products are news too

Topcon Positioning Systems provides the innovative positioning technology principally for the construction industries. When a year-old, high-end, high-cost proprietary product and content management system failed to do as promised for Topcon Positioning Systems TPS, they turned to TYPO3. Now TPS is managing and presenting latest news, press releases and even products with auto-generating menus and easy to navigate pages.

How-to on products are news too

While I'd like to say that this news as products customization is a major deal, the reality is that it's not.

Adding new fields to tt_news records is as easy as using the TYPO3 Extension Manager and Kickstarter to create the needed fields. Afterwards, you can modify the resulting ext_tables.php file to group new fields into tabs.

By grouping the new fields into tabs, you can better control the layout of the tt_news record and prevent over whelming editors. The following code comes from ext_tables.php to demonstrate grouping added tt_news fields into tabs. Take a look at the following screenshots to see them in action.

t3lib_div::loadTCA("tt_news");
t3lib_extMgm::addTCAcolumns("tt_news",$tempColumns,1);

t3lib_extMgm::addToAllTCAtypes("tt_news","--div--;Product
info,tx_tttopconproducts_product_image,tx_tttopconproducts_product_image_alt;;;;1-1-1,tx_tttopconproducts_product_fullimage,tx_tttopconproducts_product_fullimage_alt,tx_tttopconproducts_related_file,tx_tttopconproducts_filedescriptions,tx_tttopconproducts_manual_file,tx_tttopconproducts_manualdescriptions,tx_tttopconproducts_marketing_file,tx_tttopconproducts_marketingdescriptions,tx_tttopconproducts_specifications,tx_tttopconproducts_news_order,tx_tttopconproducts_ordervideo_link");
t3lib_extMgm::addToAllTCAtypes("tt_news","--div--;Descriptions,tx_tttopconproducts_shortdescription,tx_tttopconproducts_fulldescription;;;richtext[paste|bold|italic|underline|formatblock|class|left|center|right|orderedlist|unorderedlist|outdent|indent|link|image]:rte_transform[mode=ts];1-1-1;");
t3lib_extMgm::addToAllTCAtypes("tt_news","--div--;Techs,tx_tttopconproducts_technologies_box;;;richtext[paste|bold|italic|underline|formatblock|class|left|center|right|orderedlist|unorderedlist|outdent|indent|link|image]:rte_transform[mode=ts];1-1-1");
t3lib_extMgm::addToAllTCAtypes("tt_news","--div--;Product kits,tx_tttopconproducts_productkits_box;;;richtext[paste|bold|italic|underline|formatblock|class|left|center|right|orderedlist|unorderedlist|outdent|indent|link|image]:rte_transform[mode=ts];1-1-1");
t3lib_extMgm::addToAllTCAtypes("tt_news","--div--;News system,tx_tttopconproducts_news_url,tx_tttopconproducts_related_fielarchive_item;;;;1-1-1");
t3lib_extMgm::addToAllTCAtypes("tt_news","--div--;Right Urls Area,right_part_news,right_part_categories,right_part_pages;;;;1-1-1")

In case you're wondering, $tempColumns, is configuration array of the new tt_news fields.

Acqal.com Most Popular Blog Posts

Minor bout of self-promotion.

Acqal.com is an official TYPO3 agency in the United States. To let our blog readers know what other have found most interesting, we offer a popular blog posts listing.

How-to for Most Popular Blog Posts

This tt_news view is majorly handled by the TYPO3 extension newsreadedcount. As a bonus, you can check in the tt_news records themselves for the single-view read counts if you don't show the counts in the popular post entry.

Got More Examples or Have Questions?

Please share them by commenting on this blog post.
--
Acqal Corporation is an official TYPO3 agency built upon over 40 years of Internet-based software and usability experience. Our TYPO3 offerings include website migration, extension support, templates and tutorials.

Please subscribe to Acqal Newsletter and Acqal Blogging via Email or RSS Feed .

© 2009 Acqal Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

By the way, if you haven't taken the survey already, please do, it only takes a few minutes. Click here for the survey.

I used the TYPO3 extension Questionnaire (pbsurvey) to put the survey together and the ease of use and excellent manual allowed me to concentrate on survey design rather than spend a lot of time learning how to use the extension. Patrick Broens has done an excellent job all around with this one. The manual even gives good advice on how to design a survey.

The related extension Questionnaire export (pbsurveyexport) allows you to export the results into a csv file that can be analyzed in statistical packages like SPSS and OpenStat, meaning you can use this extension to do serious statistics. This is not a simple poll type extension.

One of the most impressive things is the wide range of question types supported, from choice to matrix to open-ended to presentation, 16 choices in all. Questions with choices may have one only or multiple answers, responses can be mandatory or not, and presentation types are not really questions, per se, but allow you to format and present information pertaining to the questions in a variety of ways.

As an example, I used the Matrix - One Answer per Row (Option Buttons) question type for my main question. I didn't want people to enter more than one response as the responses will be analyzed numerically and, for my questions, only one answer is possible or the response becomes meaningless. With this question type, you can have as many rows as you want (see below), which could also be looked at as an easy way to ask many similar questions at once. I was also able to set it so each person can only complete the survey once (subject to the usual limitations of identifying repeat users).

The answers for this question type are entered using the Answers Wizard. This comes with prepopulated selections or you can make up your own. In this case, I was looking for a 1 to 5 range of Very Ineffective to Very Effective and selected this prepopulated option. I added the "Don't Know" response because people should not be forced to make a judgment on something they are not familiar with.

Here is what this question looks like on the front end:

To see eaxmples of other question types, please take the training method effectiveness survey! Click here for the survey.

What I have written here only scratches the surface of this excellent and versatile extension.
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Acqal Corporation is an official TYPO3 agency built upon over 40 years of Internet-based software and usability experience. Our TYPO3 offerings include website migration, extension support, templates and tutorials.

Please subscribe to Acqal Newsletter and Acqal Blogging via Email or RSS Feed .

© 2009 Acqal Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

I have written a number of blog postings here about TYPO3 training and what I perceive as problems associated with overcoming the TYPO3 learning curve, a factor that is often mentioned (perhaps more than any other) as a reason for not using TYPO3 by individuals, agencies and potential clients of TYPO3 agencies.

I am not going to repeat these opinions nor am I going to link to the previous blogs because all they are is opinion and educated guessing based on what I have heard and read in the TYPO3 and wider CMS / WMS world. We all know about opinions, I think.

So, I have designed a training method effectiveness survey to actually try to identify what the most effective methods of learning TYPO3 are for people involved in any way with TYPO3. While the methods you prefer may apply to learning other things, this survey asks you to focus on your experience with TYPO3.

In order to get good results, we need as many responses as possible from people at all levels of TYPO3 expertise, all ages, men and women, and as many countries as possible (with as many responses from each country as we can get). Please take a few minutes to complete the survey and ask everyone you know who is involved with TYPO3 in any way to complete it.

Click here to take the survey.

Thanks, I look forward to seeing, analyzing, and sharing the results.
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Acqal Corporation is an official TYPO3 agency built upon over 40 years of Internet-based software and usability experience. Our TYPO3 offerings include website migration, extension support, templates and tutorials.

Please subscribe to Acqal Newsletter and Acqal Blogging via Email or RSS Feed .

© 2009 Acqal Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

•   http://tr.im/nominateTYPO3 for "Best Project" and "Best Project for the Enterprise"
•   http://tr.im/nominateFLOW3 for "Best New Project" and "Most Likely to Change the Way You Do Everything"

If we win a nomination, then we can potentially go on to win the category award. Thanks in advance for your help! But hurry - nominations close on May 29th.

Regards,

Karsten
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Karsten Dambekalns
TYPO3 Association - Steering Committee Member
http://association.typo3.org/
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Acqal Corporation is an official TYPO3 agency built upon over 40 years of Internet-based software and usability experience. Our TYPO3 offerings include website migration, extension support, templates and tutorials.

Please subscribe to Acqal Newsletter and Acqal Blogging via Email or RSS Feed .

© 2009 Acqal Corporation. All Rights Reserved.