What is Contao?

Contao is a flexible and easily ex­pand­able open-source content man­age­ment system (CMS) used for creating ac­cess­ible and re­spons­ive websites. It offers an intuitive user interface that’s easy for novices to operate. This CMS solution is an al­tern­at­ive to large and com­pre­hens­ive solutions like Joomla! or TYPO3.

Contao CMS offers powerful features for flexible and ac­cess­ible websites

Although Contao CMS hasn’t yet gained the wide­spread re­cog­ni­tion of major content man­age­ment systems, it has built a highly active community. With over 175,000 websites created using this solution, Contao has es­tab­lished a solid presence. First released in 2006, the open-source software was renamed from TypoLight to Contao in 2010 to avoid confusion with TYPO3. Contao is a classic web content man­age­ment system that excels in creating ac­cess­ible websites. While it’s less focused on social or blog pub­lish­ing, blog ex­ten­sions are available.

Technical facts about Contao:

• Pro­gram­ming language: PHP
• Database: MySQL / MariaDB
• Output in XHTML or HTML5
• Based on the Symfony web framework (current version based on Symfony 5)
• License: GNU Lesser General Public License

An overview of the key features of Contao:

• Advanced editing feature
• Full-text search engine
• In­teg­rated file manager
• Form generator
• Core modules for news and event man­age­ment
• Password-protected member area
• News­let­ter module
• Mul­ti­lin­gual/multi-site cap­ab­il­ity
• Ac­cess­ib­il­ity

Here you will find the download link for the latest version of Contao.

Ad­vant­ages and dis­ad­vant­ages of the Contao CMS

Comparing CMS platforms can be chal­len­ging, as it ul­ti­mately depends on the specific use case. Contao offers numerous ad­vant­ages that make it par­tic­u­larly at­tract­ive for ac­cess­ible and pro­fes­sion­al websites. However, there are also factors that could present chal­lenges, depending on the project’s scale and ex­per­i­ence level.

Strengths:

• A wide range of features available in the basic version.
• A diverse selection of extension modules, including the Isotope eCommerce shop system, layouts, and templates.
• Intuitive usability and strong ac­cess­ib­il­ity features.
• Long-term support ensuring up-to-date software.
• A robust community and com­pre­hens­ive doc­u­ment­a­tion for support.
• A hier­arch­ic­al page structure that sim­pli­fies the man­age­ment of multiple pages and makes it easy to handle meta tags, redirects, and vis­ib­il­ity through the structure tree.
• Flex­ib­il­ity in designing re­spons­ive and mul­ti­lin­gual websites.
• SEO tools like search engine-friendly URL gen­er­a­tion and automatic XML sitemap creation make website op­tim­isa­tion easier.

Chal­lenges:

• Template im­ple­ment­a­tion can be complex and requires ex­per­i­ence.
• In larger projects, clarity may be lost.
• Social pub­lish­ing and blogging are less in­teg­rated compared to other CMS solutions.

System re­quire­ments

There aren’t many re­quire­ments for in­stalling Contao. A web server with PHP and MySQL support is all you need. PHP should be at least version 7.4+, and MySQL must be version 8.0+ or an equi­val­ent MariaDB version.

Contao also requires specific PHP ex­ten­sions, which are typically enabled by default in most PHP in­stall­a­tions but can be disabled by the hosting provider. However, Contao will check to ensure that all necessary ex­ten­sions are active. The official Contao doc­u­ment­a­tion lists the required PHP ex­ten­sions.

Ap­plic­a­tions of Contao

Contao is a highly versatile CMS es­pe­cially well-suited for medium to large web projects. Companies like Siemens and Telekom suc­cess­fully use it, thanks to its powerful and easily ex­tend­able ar­chi­tec­ture. It’s also ac­cess­ible to less ex­per­i­enced users due to its straight­for­ward operation. With features like ac­cess­ib­il­ity, SEO tools, and an in­teg­rated news­let­ter module, Contao is par­tic­u­larly appealing for corporate websites.

For projects that demand higher per­form­ance and security, the Jamstack approach is an excellent choice. It combines static pages with dynamic content through APIs and JavaS­cript, ensuring optimal per­form­ance.

Al­tern­at­ives to Contao

Although Contao offers numerous ad­vant­ages, such as ac­cess­ib­il­ity and flexible cus­tom­isa­tion, other content man­age­ment systems may be worth con­sid­er­ing depending on your project’s needs. Each CMS has its own strengths, providing unique features that are better suited for specific ap­plic­a­tions.

WordPress is the most popular CMS for simple and ex­pand­able websites

WordPress is the most widely used CMS worldwide, making it an excellent choice for blogs, small business websites, and simple online stores. With easy in­stall­a­tion and an intuitive interface, you can quickly create pro­fes­sion­al websites with WordPress even without prior ex­per­i­ence. Thanks to a wide range of plugins and themes, WordPress can be easily extended and cus­tom­ised. While it’s perfect for smaller projects, it can also handle larger websites with the right ex­ten­sions.

Joomla is the flexible CMS for mul­ti­lin­gual and complex websites

Joomla is a versatile open-source CMS, par­tic­u­larly well-suited for websites that require more complex struc­tures, such as mul­ti­lin­gual portals or community platforms. It offers greater cus­tom­isa­tion options than WordPress, making it ideal for projects that need specific functions and high flex­ib­il­ity. However, Joomla also has a steeper learning curve and demands more technical expertise to create a Joomla website.

TYPO3 is the powerful CMS for large en­ter­prise projects

TYPO3 is a robust, scalable CMS that is es­pe­cially suitable for large en­ter­prises and complex web projects. It offers a wide range of functions and ex­ten­sions that allow the creation of highly complex websites. However, TYPO3 requires sub­stan­tial technical know-how, and the learning curve is steeper than with systems like WordPress or Joomla.

Contao is the flexible CMS for various project sizes

• Contao is es­pe­cially appealing for beginners who prefer not to rely on WordPress.
• With its focus on ac­cess­ib­il­ity and mul­ti­lin­gual support, the CMS is also ideal for pro­fes­sion­al corporate websites.
• Backed by an active community and regular updates.
• A solid al­tern­at­ive to WordPress, Joomla, and TYPO3, depending on the specific project needs.
• Built-in features for op­tim­isa­tion and com­mu­nic­a­tion.

Contao and ac­cess­ib­il­ity

In the UK, the Equality Act 2010 requires many busi­nesses to make their digital offerings ac­cess­ible to in­di­vidu­als with dis­ab­il­it­ies. This includes online stores, digital service portals, booking and contract platforms, apps, and other services aimed at the public.

While the Equality Act doesn’t spe­cific­ally outline technical ac­cess­ib­il­ity standards, it has been in­ter­preted to require com­pli­ance with in­ter­na­tion­ally re­cog­nised guidelines, par­tic­u­larly the Web Content Ac­cess­ib­il­ity Guidelines (WCAG). These guidelines include re­quire­ments such as:

• Providing al­tern­at­ive text for images (‘alt texts’)
• Ensuring keyboard ac­cess­ib­il­ity (e.g., no reliance on mouse use)
• Offering suf­fi­cient colour contrast, zoom cap­ab­il­ity, and un­der­stand­able nav­ig­a­tion
• Ensuring com­pat­ib­il­ity with assistive tech­no­lo­gies like screen readers

Contao provides a solid technical found­a­tion for meeting these ac­cess­ib­il­ity re­quire­ments. The CMS generates clean, semantic HTML5 by default, supports ARIA labels, ensures screen reader-friendly nav­ig­a­tion struc­tures, and offers ac­cess­ible forms, as well as a con­sist­ent sep­ar­a­tion of content and layout. With newer versions, such as Contao 5.4 and 5.6, focus in­dic­at­ors, nav­ig­a­tion logic, and other ac­cess­ib­il­ity features have been enhanced, making it easier to meet many WCAG re­quire­ments right out of the box.

However, it’s important to note that ac­cess­ib­il­ity isn’t solely de­term­ined by the CMS. Whether a website meets legal re­quire­ments also depends on the theme used, the in­di­vidu­al de­vel­op­ment, the design, and the editorial main­ten­ance. If alt texts are missing, interface elements are difficult to access, or an in­ac­cess­ible layout is chosen, even the best technical found­a­tion cannot com­pensate. When im­ple­men­ted correctly, however, Contao enables the creation of tech­nic­ally clean, sus­tain­able, and legally compliant websites, helping busi­nesses meet ac­cess­ib­il­ity standards under the Equality Act 2010.