Glossary
TSconfig
The configuration of the TYPO3 backend, split into areas of the site (page TSconfig) and users (user TSconfig).
Two kinds of TSconfig
Page TSconfig applies to an area of the site and inherits downwards. You set it on a page and it takes effect on that page and everything below it. That lets different areas of a website be configured differently, the press area other than the product area for instance.
User TSconfig applies to a backend user or a user group. It controls what a particular role sees and may do, regardless of which area of the site they are working in at the time.
Offering less is usually better
The most common and most useful application is taking things away. TYPO3 ships with a great many content elements, and a given project might need eight of them.
When the selection list holds only those eight, editorial work gets faster and the site stays more consistent. Not offering elements nobody should use works better than any convention in a manual.
Where it belongs
Like TypoScript, TSconfig should sit in files in the sitepackage and be included from there, not typed directly into a field on the page record.
The reason is the same: only then is it traceable when a restriction was introduced and why. With configuration that changes how whole editorial teams work, that is not a formality.