TYPO3 is an open source enterprise CMS written in PHP. It is widely used in Europe, particularly in German-speaking countries, and is built for large multi-site, multi-language installations.
The page tree
TYPO3’s defining feature is that everything hangs off a hierarchical page tree. Pages contain content elements, and those elements are placed into named areas of the template. There is no flat list of posts the way a blogging platform has.
Configuration is done in TypoScript, a configuration language of its own. This is the part that surprises people arriving from other systems: a great deal of how the site behaves lives in TypoScript rather than in template files or admin screens.
What moves cleanly
| Page text and images | Transfer, though the element structure flattens |
| Page hierarchy | Maps onto any system with nested pages |
| Multi-language content | Depends entirely on how the destination handles translations |
| TypoScript configuration | No equivalent. Site behaviour has to be rebuilt. |
| Extension data | Varies. Some extensions store content in their own tables. |
Current status
Actively developed, with long-term support releases and a formal governing association. Installs do fall behind, and an out-of-support version is a common trigger for moving.