You will get a detailed introduction to TypoScript templates in the next chapter. At this point we want you to simply make an initial contact. If one wants to describe a template, the word 'mould' immediately comes to mind. A template is simply nothing more than a master that is used over and over. Templates determine how the content that is entered by the editor and stored in the database will be displayed on the website. To put it bluntly, you can enter as much as you want into the database—TYPO3 will not be able to display it in the front end without templates. You can check this out with an easy experiment. As an experienced TYPO3 user you have no doubt encountered the error message Error: No pages are found on the rootlevel. This message tells you that no page has been created yet for the current project. The following message, however, is rarer:

When this error message appears all the time in the front end you have to create a template before any content can be displayed. In Chapter 5 you will learn how this works, what template inheritance is, and what peculiarities you need to be aware of when creating templates.

TYPO3 offers ready-made templates to make your work easier for most areas of application. You don't have to develop a new template each time you want to create a link, for example. However, the focus in this book is on the development of your own templates. This will help you create an appropriate solution for each and every application.

Without spending too much time on templates at this time, we want to make the following observations:

You now have an idea of how powerful templates are and what possibilities they offer. In a nutshell, the quality of a TYPO3 website depends on the quality of its templates.