Reference: Content elements

Every element in content.colPos<n> is rendered through lib.contentElement; the shipped CType definitions add their fields under content. Frontends can rely on the outer shape and switch on type.

Base shape

{
  "id": 12,
  "type": "text",
  "colPos": 0,
  "appearance": {
    "layout": "default",
    "frameClass": "default",
    "spaceBefore": "",
    "spaceAfter": ""
  }
}

id, type, colPos — uid, CType and colPos of the record.
appearance — lib.appearance: layout is default or layout-1 to layout-3; frameClass, spaceBefore and spaceAfter are the raw frame_class, space_before_class and space_after_class values.
content — not part of lib.contentElement; added by each CType with element-specific fields, see the table. Elements based on lib.contentElementWithHeader start with the header block:

{
  "header": "Headline",
  "subheader": "",
  "headerLayout": 0,
  "headerPosition": "",
  "headerLink": ""
}

headerLink is a typolink result: an empty string without a link, otherwise an object with href, target, class, title, linkText and additionalAttributes.

Shipped content elements

"Menu items" below means the MenuProcessor item shape. Where appendData = 1 is set, every item also keeps the page record under data, and file fields (media, images) hold FilesProcessor output.

`type`	Keys in `content`
`text`	header block, `bodytext` (RTE, `lib.parseFunc_RTE`).
`textpic`	header block, `bodytext`, `enlargeImageOnClick` (bool), `gallery` from the `image` field.
`textmedia`	Like `textpic`, `gallery` from the `assets` field.
`image`	header block, `enlargeImageOnClick`, `gallery`.
`bullets`	header block, `bulletsType` (int), `bodytext` as array: one entry per line, for `bulletsType = 2` one `[term, description]` row per line.
`table`	header block, `bodytext` as array of rows (cells split by `table_delimiter`/`table_enclosure`), `tableCaption`, `cols` (int), `tableHeaderPosition` (int), `tableClass`, `tableTfoot`.
`uploads`	header block, `media` (files from the `media` field and the selected file collections, sorted by `filelink_sorting`), `target`, `displayFileSizeInformation`, `displayDescription`, `displayInformation`.
`html`	`header`, `bodytext` (raw, unprocessed HTML).
`div`	`header`.
`header`	header block only.
`shortcut`	`shortcut`: array of the referenced content elements, each rendered with its own definition (`lib.renderChildren`).
`menu_pages`	header block, `menu`: menu items of the selected pages.
`menu_subpages`	header block, `menu`: menu items of the subpages of the selected pages.
`menu_abstract`	header block, `menu`: subpages with `abstract` and `media` on every item, `appendData = 1`.
`menu_section`	header block, `menu`: pages with `media` and a `content` array (`uid`, `header`, `media`) of their section-index elements, `appendData = 1`.
`menu_section_pages`	header block, `menu`: subpages with `media` and a `content` array of all their elements, `appendData = 1`.
`menu_categorized_pages`	header block, `menu`: pages of the selected categories with `media`, `appendData = 1`.
`menu_categorized_content`	header block, `menu`: content elements (`uid`, `header`, `media`) of the selected categories.
`menu_recently_updated`	header block, `menu`: pages changed in the last seven days with `media`, `appendData = 1`.
`menu_related_pages`	header block, `menu`: pages sharing keywords with `media`, `appendData = 1`.
`menu_sitemap`	header block, `menu`: page tree of the current site, seven levels, `images` per item, `appendData = 1`.
`menu_sitemap_pages`	header block, `menu`: page tree below the selected pages, seven levels, `images` per item, `appendData = 1`.
`felogin_login`	header block, `data`: the login JSON, see EXT:felogin.
`form_formframework`	`link` (submit URL), `form` (uncached form definition), see EXT:form.
`list`	header block; `type` carries `list_type`. Kept for 4.x compatibility, `list_type` plugins no longer exist in TYPO3 v14.

A CType without a definition renders through tt_content.default: content.error contains Content Element with uid "<uid>" and type "<CType>" has no rendering definition!. Define tt_content.<ctype> as shown in Custom content & plugin output.

The legacy set adds a categories string to every element after appearance; see Content element categories for re-adding it on the default set.