TypoScript - A quick overview
This introduction is designed to give you a comprehensive understanding of how TypoScript works. In other words the goal is not to just help you make it work, but to make sure that you end up knowing why and how it works.
At the end of this tutorial, you will not have a complete TYPO3 CMS-powered website, but you should feel confident about how to get there.
A common workflow used by beginners is to try arbitrary properties on objects until things somehow begin to work. However understanding how TypoScript really works allows you to proceed more efficiently and waste less time in painful trial and error.
Going through this tutorial is helpful for understanding other tutorials, like the Sitepackage.