WebCamp Venlo is an annual conference in the Netherlands aimed at developers as well as marketing and communication experts. Originally known as TYPO3Camp Venlo, the event has also been open to the PHP community since 2020. The focus remains on TYPO3, supplemented by specialist presentations on modern web and mobile technologies. With around 150 participants, the conference offers an inspiring platform for the exchange of know-how and experience.
In 2025, the WebCamp once again took place in the impressive "Domani" location in the heart of Venlo. The former late medieval monastery church was transformed into a stage for culture and other events in 2007 after extensive renovation work. The name "Domani", Latin for "tomorrow", symbolizes the building's new purpose and also commemorates the last monks of the Domincan order, who left the church in 2005.
Curated talks and community engagement in Venlo
WebCamp Venlo is not a classic barcamp: the first day featured curated talks and keynotes, while the second day was organized in the traditional barcamp style by the participants themselves. We were particularly impressed by the keynote speech by Prof. Dr. Paul Louis Iske on the topic of "Fantastic Mistakes". In it, he spoke very convincingly about dealing with mistakes in IT, drew parallels with artificial intelligence and showed how valuable learning can arise from mistakes.
The first day ended with an exciting panel discussion on the topic of "Open Source and Financing". Juliette Reinders Folmer, maintainer of PHP_CodeSniffer, gave deep insights into the challenges of financing. Only a fraction of users of open source software contribute financially - in her project PHP_CodeSniffer only around 0.1 per thousand - which can be problematic in the long term. This shows that although open source is free to use, it is not free of charge. Fabrice Mous from Nextcloud Benelux put it in a nutshell: "There is no universal financing model for open source. Each community has to find its own balance between value creation, financial support and sustainability".
One example of a functioning financing model in the open source sector is TYPO3 itself: The TYPO3 Association, organized as a non-profit association, finances the further development and maintenance of the CMS. The members of the association thus become shareholders and contributors at the same time. There is also a commercial arm, TYPO3 GmbH, which offers fee-based services such as long-term support, training, certification and project and support services. The income generated by the GmbH flows back into the TYPO3 project and thus enables extensive further development on an open source basis.
+Pluswerk Talk & Conclusion
On the second day, Jens Krumm spoke about the importance of digital accessibility. In Germany, around 16% (approx. 13 million people) have a disability. However, accessibility does not only affect people with disabilities, but also older people (approx. 22% of the population are over 65), people with temporary restrictions (e.g. broken arm, eye injuries) and people with learning difficulties or language barriers. Ultimately, all people benefit from accessible websites, e.g. through better usability, optimized loading times, better mobile use, easier operation in difficult situations (with one hand on a smartphone) and much more.
In his presentation, Krumm used practical examples and the WebAIM Report 2024 to show that improvements in accessibility can often be achieved with simple means: These include higher contrasts and font sizes for texts, ALT texts for all images, clickable buttons of a sufficient size with adequate spacing between the buttons, or even the labels for input fields in forms. The most important insight: accessibility must be integrated into the development and editing process right from the start.
The WebCamp Venlo was an inspiring experience for us. New international contacts, exciting discussions and a strong sense of community made the event particularly valuable. We were particularly impressed by the openness of the Dutch community and the exchange with experts from all over Europe. As a value sponsor, we are proud to have supported this great event - because only through such initiatives can the open source community grow sustainably. we will definitely be back in 2026.
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