Zimplit Aims To Simplify Content Management

At a time when other content management systems are locked in what seems like an arms race to add new features, a return to simplicity can be kind of refreshing. Introduced just a few months ago, Zimplit claims to be the easiest content management system ever made, and while I'd argue that on a number of levels, it is pretty darn easy to set up and use.What's most interesting to me about Zimplit is what it doesn't have: there are no fancy administration tools, no blogging features, it doesn't support modules to extend its functionality, or themes to change the look and feel.

What it does do is support basic HTML or CSS (cascading style sheet) templates, and it offers a pretty decent WYSIWYG editor for building pages. To create a page, you log in and start typing content and adding images directly to the template page. To add additional pages you can start from scratch or simply copy an existing page and edit from there.

While Zimplit aims to be for "normal people, not for IT gurus," it's not a hosted service and still requires you to run your own server or have a third-party Web hosting provider. On the plus side, it doesn't require a database, as the content is stored in HTML pages.

It will be interesting to see what happens to Zimplit over time. For a simple site with just a handful of static pages, it seems like it might be a good solution. But as organization's needs grow, I think they'd quickly outgrow Zimplit in its current state. WordPress, Movable Type, and other content management systems offer a mix of simple, basic page creation as well as more advanced features.

Zimplit was created by Krabi & Mask, an Estonian design agency, and is a free open source download as long as you link back to their site. If you're just interested in giving in a quick try, there's a demo of the system on their site.