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The Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI) is a discrete scientific research program within the Simons Foundation whose primary goal is to drive research that benefits individuals challenged by autism spectrum disorders. They launched their new website yesterday at sfari.org

Through a formal bid process, SFARI selected Six Feet Up to assist with the planning, development and customization of their new website. Six Feet Up partnered with Abstract Edge to provide web strategy and design services.

Powered by the Plone open source content management system (CMS), the new site offers easily-navigated content that caters to scientists, clinicians, researchers, students, and families affected by autism. The site also integrates with MoinMoin, an advanced, easy-to-use and extensible WikiEngine, which offers the ability for live collaboration to provide an up-to-date, searchable reference about concepts in autism research. Additionally, the site uses Vanilla Forums, an open-source, standards-compliant, customizable discussion forums platform, to provide a virtual community where registered users can discuss topics relevant to autism research. The site offers many other options and features, such as integration with PubMed, embedded slideshows and videos, search integration with Solr, blogging, member registration forms and searchable profiles, integration with SFARI's custom OpenID implementation to offer Single Sign On, and newsletter/announcement sign-up capabilities.

Featuring a brand new look and feel, the site offers a rich and interactive experience to users. From an administration perspective, content managers at SFARI are now able to easily manage content and the interactions with their virtual community to further advance the achievement of their goals.