People looking for another web scripted system are solving the wrong problem. Access is perfectly possible, it's just that not enough people are doing it. After the last "pretty web front end" failed, I did what people wanted then and made it XML/XSL.
I'll help anyone get started with it (email me!), although you'll hopefully understand it if I (or someone else) checks over people's first page or two to make sure the web site survives. ;-)