by @rakel
What is the idea about?
The visual_editor extension is an important step toward a more direct and easier editing experience in TYPO3. It already shows that content can be edited much closer to the final page result. Because of that, it has strong potential for modern editorial workflows.
The next step is to make this experience better suited for everyday use. That includes improving accessibility, making multilingual work easier, offering a more focused editing mode, and making the extension more stable overall.
This idea focuses on improving EXT:visual_editor in four main areas:
- Accessibility
The community can expect a more accessible editing experience. The goal is to improve navigation, clarity, and keyboard support so visual editing becomes easier to use, more reliable in daily work, and more in line with TYPO3’s quality standards. - Language Compare
The community can expect progress toward a more practical multilingual workflow directly inside visual editing. The main goal is to make it easier to compare language versions side by side in the real page context. This should help editors and translators better understand the structure, layout, and differences in the content. - Full-Screen Mode
The community can expect progress toward a more focused editing mode with more space for content and less distraction from the surrounding TYPO3 interface. The goal is a cleaner way of working while keeping the most important controls easy to access. This part will only be implemented if the technical challenges are manageable, so the community should not expect it as a guaranteed outcome of this proposal. - Hardening
The community can expect clear improvements in stability, reliability, and confidence when using the extension in real projects. This includes fixing weak points, improving workflows, and strengthening quality assurance so the extension becomes easier to maintain and safer to use as adoption grows.
The goal is to make visual_editor more useful, more stable, and more attractive for editorial teams working in real TYPO3 projects.
What must be achieved by 31 August 2026?
The community can expect:
- a better and more accessible editing experience
- progress for multilingual workflows with a compare-focused approach
- more trust through hardening, fixes, tests, and quality improvements
The exact implementation details should stay open enough to allow practical decisions during development, depending on technical feasibility and the current state of the extension. The aim is to deliver useful progress in all four areas while keeping enough flexibility to build the most valuable version of each improvement.
What is the potential impact of the idea for the overall goal?
This idea can help move visual_editor from an exciting innovation toward a more production-ready editorial tool.
This means:
- a more inclusive and stronger editing experience for editors
- better support for multilingual work and multilingual projects
- a more focused workflow when editing complex pages
- more trust in the stability and future development of visual editing in TYPO3
This is especially important because visual editing is one of the most visible areas where editorial experience and overall product perception come together.
What skills are needed to work on the idea?
This idea requires experience in:
- TYPO3 backend and editorial workflows
- UX-focused feature development
- accessibility-aware interface design and implementation
- multilingual content handling in TYPO3
- testing and strengthening interactive workflows
- working pragmatically with an evolving extension
Your Mentor from the team would be
Rachel Foucard
How does the idea align with TYPO3 goals?
This idea aligns especially well with several of TYPO3’s strategic goals.
It supports Strategic Goal 2 - Reducing Complexity by making visual editing easier to understand, easier to use, and more consistent in daily editorial work.
It supports Strategic Goal 3 - Enabling Better Content by improving the editing experience directly in page context and by strengthening multilingual workflows.
It supports Strategic Goal 4 - Improve Customer-Oriented Communication by making the backend experience clearer and more supportive for editors through better usability and accessibility.
It supports Strategic Goal 8 - Give Customers High ROI Through Long-Term Support and Easy Maintenance by hardening the extension, improving quality, and increasing confidence in long-term use and future development.
Because of this, it is a strong fit for the UX Team and for TYPO3’s broader product direction.
Budget for this idea?
10.000 Euro
Implementer: Matthias Vogel @mvogel1