Application by
Alexander Nitsche
What is your idea about?
Implement a TYPO3 Screenshots Tool that supports taking screenshots of TYPO3 for official documentation by scripting photo tours that can be run repeatedly and customized granularly, much like tests. It should provide actions for taking screenshots from a TYPO3 instance, drawing on them, and extracting parts of them. The tool should provide TYPO3 environments, consisting of the TYPO3 core and optionally a pre-installed distribution, that are walkable by scripted actions and from which screenshots can be taken according to a given configuration file.
This project will build on the TYPO3 Testing Framework and the underlying Codeception acceptance testing framework, which is already used for running the TYPO3 backend and frontend.
What is the potential impact of your idea?
The official TYPO3 documentation contains almost 850 images, a large part of which shows the TYPO3 installation process, the backend and the frontend. Since these screenshots become outdated every 1.5 years with each TYPO3 LTS release, documentation maintainers would have to recreate all screenshots manually at the same frequency, which is not affordable. The TYPO3 Screenshots Tool is intended to reduce a large portion of that maintenance cost.
Besides time saving there are more benefits of this project:
- Scalability: Screenshots of similar scope can be created and adapted quickly by copy & paste & adapt. Additional screenshots do not lead to a mental burden as they have to be recreated by arbitrary community members in the future.
- Consistency: The browser and resolution used are always the same. Changes in labeling styles (color, shapes of arrows and labels) can be incorporated quickly and reliably. This way we can ensure that the design is always in line with the corporate design of TYPO3.
- Feedback: TYPO3 Core and TYPO3 documentation might differ over time without further notice. The scripted screenshots approach introduces a first feedback instance: If a generated image differs from the original, the text surrounding the image in the documentation must also be checked for changes.
- Hardening: The screenshots project is based on several TYPO3 projects like typo3/typo3-core, typo3/testing-framework, typo3/cms-introduction, typo3/cms-styleguide,bk2k/bootstrap-package and t3docs/examples. The screenshots run works as an additional test layer: Errors in the dependent projects become visible through the screenshots run or screenshots comparison.
- Synergy: The screenshots project and typo3/testing-framework both provide their own codeception modules for acceptance testing, so in perspective there should be a common set of modules that is improved from both perspectives.
- Training: The script for running screenshots consists of codeception acceptance test actions in a reduced version. Thus, by writing the script, the author implicitly learns to write acceptance tests for own PHP applications.
- Flexibility: The same tool can be used perspectively in TYPO3 extensions and third-party projects.
Who can / should implement your idea?
I will take care myself
Approximate Funds needed
€25,000 - €50,000