Contao features

Here are some of the features that make Contao stand out from the mass of CMS.

Advanced editing features

Advanced editing features

Contao provides advanced editing features like copying or moving records via clipboard, editing multiple records at once or restoring prior versions. Editors can format texts with the built-in rich text editor TinyMCE, which also includes a multilingual spellchecker.

Powerful site structure

Powerful site structure

Contao supports different page types (e.g. regular or redirect pages) and multiple websites in one tree. You have full control over whether a page is hidden, password protected, cached or indexed for searching and you can publish them either manually or timed.

Fine-grained permission system

Fine-grained permission system

Contao has a powerful permission system that allows you to control the access to each and every form field in the back end. Access rights can be granted on user or on group level and will be aggregated if a user is assigned to more than one group.

Flexible form generator

Flexible form generator

With the Contao form generator you can generate any kind of web form, which will be validated automatically and either sent via e-mail or stored in the database. Uploaded files will be sent as attachment and can optionally be stored in a folder on the server.

Full-text search engine

Full-text search engine

Contao comes with a full-text search engine that supports phrase searching, wildcard searching and AND/OR searching. The search index is built automatically and optionally even includes protected pages. The results are cached and can be split into multiple pages.

Responsive Images

Responsive Images

Contao is consistently designed for accessibility and support of mobile devices. You can define central or individually different formats for images. To save valuable bandwidth when delivering your website to smartphones. Specify an image - focus, so that the important image content are always in the picture.

SEO-friendly

The Contao front end is fully built on customizable templates and generates accessible HTML5 code according to W3C/WAI requirements. Search engine friendly URLs and structured data according to schema.org ensure that your website is found and understood by Google.

Built-in file manager

Built-in file manager

Contao supports file uploads via FTP in addition to the built-in file manager. It automatically generates image thumbnails and file previews and allows you to edit uploaded files with the source editor. Files and folders can by copied, moved, edited, renamed and deleted.

Built-in calendar module

Built-in calendar module

The Contao calendar module is part of the core distribution. It supports multiple calendars, all-day events, open-end events, multi-day events, repeated events and easy syndication via RSS or Atom feeds. It includes multiple views like calendar, mini-calendar or event list.

Built-in news/blog module

Built-in news/blog module

The Contao news/blog module is part of the core distribution. It supports multiple news archives and categories, featured news, user comments and easy syndication via RSS or Atom feeds. Each news item can have an image attached and multiple enclosures.

Built-in newsletter module

Built-in newsletter module

The Contao newsletter module is part of the core distribution. It supports subscription via double-opt in, HTML and plain text formats, importing recipients from a CSV file and listing sent newsletters on the website. Newsletters sent to members can be personalized.

Easy update

Easy update

Installing updates can be time consuming, even you are running only a small number of Contao websites. The Contao Manager allows you to update your installation with only a few clicks directly in your browser. Of course, Contao also supports a variety of deployment tools and CI workflows.

Wide choice of additional packages

Wide choice of additional packages

On extensions.contao.org or on Packagist you will find many additional packages that add even more functionality to the CMS. You can browse, install, update or remove these packages directly in the Contao Manager with only a few mouse clicks.