Is WYSIWYG Editing the Most Important Facet of a CMS?
According to a June 2002 Forrester Research report entitled, "Enterprise Content Management Delusions," improved usability ranked as the most pressing need of respondents. To be sure, modifying Web content through a Web browser has never been a picnic. However, CMS 200's reliance on the eWebEditPro editor serves it well. Content contributors may participate using either IE 4.x+ or Netscape 4.x+ on a PC platform (Macintosh support is currently unavailable).

While its use requires a significant client download (up to 4.5MB), its behavior more closely approximates Microsoft Word than any other editor I've tested. As an added bonus, eWebEditPro can actually invoke Word as an OLE-Automation object so that you can modify and transfer content seamlessly. Automatic spell checking within eWebEditPro is also available; however, this feature tended to bog down my system with Word running hidden in the background.

Prevent Content Contributors from Using the <BLINK> Tag
There is an old saying: "With great power comes great responsibility." As an administrator, you can restrict content authors to choosing from a list of approved fonts and styles in their content. Surprising, however, is the apparent inability of an administrator to restrict access to specific editor features such as HTML view, table creation, or color selection. Additionally, you are restricted to using a single content "type" consisting of the following attributes:

• Title
• Comment
• Start date/end date
• WYSIWYG content
• WYSIWYG summary
• Metadata (customizable)

The CFML custom tags that ship with the product are unencrypted and customization is encouraged. However, since the underlying kernel is actually a set of Windows .DLL files and most administrative functions are coded in ASP, you may find advanced customization somewhat challenging.

No Support for ColdFusion MX
Ektron's CMS core libraries (excluding the eMPower product) were developed as a series of Windows-based DLLs invoked through COM. ColdFusion 4.x, 5.x support is achieved by supplying developers with a series of CFML custom tag wrappers that invoke these COM objects through <CFOBJECT> invocations. Like most other vendors in the same COM predicament, Ektron plans to release a future version of the product architected around a more open, Web services-based model. At the time of this writing, however, no release date for CFMX compatibility is being disclosed.

Does a Lightweight CMS Inevitably Lead to High Total Cost of Ownership?
Carefully consider your total cost of ownership before purchasing any content management system. This includes not only the price of the CMS, but also the application server, database server, and perhaps most significantly - the development time to create your required functionality. Twenty years in software development have taught me the following:
1.   90% of customer requirements can usually be met in 10% of the budget. Meeting the remaining 10% of the requirements usually costs 90% of the budget.
2.   "Enterprise" software generally costs as much as the "Starship Enterprise" and frequently performs as well as that ship's transporter.
3.   Murphy was an optimist.

In other words, choose a CMS that most closely meets your functional requirements with "out-of -the-box" functionality. Ektron's CMS 200 carries one of the lowest starting price-points in the industry. At $2,999 USD for one URL and 10 content contributors operating using an MS Access datasource and an ASP application server model, small workgroups or departments could feasibly deploy the system for well under $10K on a single server (including hardware, excluding services). The functionality, as described in Table 1 is limited; however, if it fulfills many of your requirements, then you've just discovered a hard-to-find bargain in a very competitive industry.

Conclusion
Ektron's CMS 200 fulfills the somewhat peculiar need to add lightweight content management to a preexisting hybrid HTML, ASP, PHP, or CF 4.x/5.x Web site. If you're on a tight budget supporting 20 (or fewer) content contributors, have no immediate plans to support ColdFusion MX, and have minimal CMS requirements, then Ektron's CMS 100/200/300 product line will provide exceptional value as a "no-frills" entry-level system. Otherwise, you may want to consider the more fully featured "native CF" implementations of Ektron eMPower, CommonSpot 3.0 from Paperthin, Inc. (reviewed in CFDJ Vol. 4, issue 10), and NQcontent from NetQuest, which I will be reviewing in a future issue.

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Vitals: CMS 200
Ektron, Inc.
5 Northern Blvd. * Amherst, NH 03031
Phone: 603-594-0249
Web: www.ektron.com

Test Environment:
Dell Inspiron 5000, 450MHz P-III
ColdFusion 5.0, 512MB RAM
Windows 2000, SP 2
Microsoft Access
Pricing:
U.S. $2,999 (one URL, 10 contributors)
U.S. $12,999 (one URL, unlimited contributors)

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Target audience:
Small, price-sensitive organizations and workgroups that require simple anywhere authoring and workflow.

Pros:

Cons:

Client platform:
Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.x+, Netscape 4.x / PC only. Client download of the Ektron eWebEditPro editor is required and may vary between 1.5-4.5 MB.
Server OS: Windows only (requires Microsoft Active Server Pages). Developer API for Macromedia ColdFusion 4.x, 5.x. PHP, Microsoft ASP, ASP.NET
Database support: Microsoft Access, Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL

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Note:
Since this review was written, Ektron has unveiled its newest product, Ektron CMS300. This content-management solution, base-priced at US$4,999, adds powerful XML functionality to Ektron CMS200.