Ingeniux & Ektron – Choosing a Content Management System for Localization

Offering localized content is a key requirement for content management systems (CMS). In the first post in this series I explored different localization features and now I’m looking at different CMSs. Previously I looked at WordPress, Drupal, and Hippo. Now it’s time for Ingeniux and Ektron.

Both Ingeniux and Ektron are intended to be enterprise solutions. As such, they cost a bit more to purchase, but in return you get a healthy does of features not seen elsewhere.

Ingeniux

Ingeniux comes packaged with WorldView, which is a suite of features designed to simplify the management of multilingual websites. Highlights include customizable workflows, a powerful tracking and notification system, and a robust locale system that allows you to define the languages and regions you want to support.

Ingeniux uses the multi-node approach, but it is able to intelligently copy web pages so various connections and dependencies can be maintained between different translations.

One of the cooler features of Ingeniux is its ability to create custom workflows within the CMS. This puts Ingeniux miles ahead of its competition in terms of workflow support because it allows the CMS to directly mirror the existing workflow of a company.

Lastly, Ingeniux has a powerful API that comes prepackaged with multiple connectors for several translation services. For the solutions that Ingeniux does not support, developers can use the flexibility of the Ingeniux API to support nearly any preexisting solution.

Advantages

– Site Definition Manager can track localization of all assets

– Supports taxonomy translation

– Custom workflows can be generated for the translation process

– Notifications are sent to translators

– All content can be synchronized between nodes

– Easily integrates external translation services with its API

– XLIFF is supported out of the box

– Localized themes can be provided with microsites

Disadvantages

– Ingeniux is expensive

Ingeniux provides a very solid solution that satisfies all of the requirements I set forth while also adding the nifty ability to create custom workflows. It is not quite the best, however, as I will prove with Ektron.

Ektron

Ektron is perhaps one of the best content management systems out on the market today. It only makes sense that its multilingual support is also top notch.

One of the most interesting features packaged with Ektron, is its support for managed assets. Essentially Ektron allows a user to couple a file with its original so that a marketing team can easily generate new versions in different languages. This is particularly helpful for images. By packaging them with their original PSDs, marketing teams can easily change text or other parts of an image to best fit a locale.

Another unique feature of Ektron is its ability to have fallback locales. This is helpful when not all of your content is translated, but you still want to present it all to a user. This feature is particularly helpful because it can provide fallbacks for very related dialects and languages.

Lastly, Ektron provides support for custom locales and pseudo-localization. Custom locales allow users to create localized content or specific markets even when there is not a supported ISO language code for said market. Pseudo-localization, on the other hand, provides developers a way to preview what their page will look like in different languages. It is pretty much lorem ipsum on steroids. This is particularly important when designing pages for languages that read from right to left.

Advantages

– Provides a way to manage assets and their originals

– Support for fallback locales

– Can create custom locales

– Pseudo-localization can be used to determine readability of a page

– Supports taxonomy translation

– Workflows are separated for each language

– Notifications are sent to translators

– All content can be synchronized between nodes

– Ektron easily integrates with Lionbridge and Globalization Partners International

– XLIFF is supported out of the box

– Localized themes can be provided with microsites

Disadvantages

– Ektron is expensive

Ektron is one of the strongest contenders out there, so if you have the money to get the software I would highly suggest it. Not only will your translation team love you but your marketing division will also.

While both systems support all of the requirements set forth in the first entry in the series, Ektron has several significant features that allows it to edge out its competitor. Most notably, the ability to manage image assets and their originals within Ektron is a feature not seen anywhere else.

This concludes the series on choosing a CMS for localization support. Have any questions, comments or concerns? Feel free to leave a comment below. I also encourage you to connect with us on LinkedIn.

• CMS
• Content Management
• Localization
• Ingeniux
• Ektron