About FullCodePress

FullCodePress is a web competition - the brainchild of the people at Webstock and WIPA. In essence it’s a geek Olympics!

The concept is simple. Web teams take each other on, at the same location, to build a complete website in 24 hours. No excuse, no extensions, no budget overruns.

FullCodePress 2007

The first event was held in Australia on Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 August 2007 between Australia and New Zealand. The two charity sites were:

New Zealand won the challenge.

FullCodePress 2009

Thre most recent event was held on 12 and 13 May 2009 live at CeBIT. The two charity sites were:

Again, New Zealand won the challenge - making the overall score 2-0.

What sort of website do the teams build?

Each competition sees a charitable organisation selected to be the recipients of fully functional websites at the end of 24 hours. Emphasis is placed on ensuring that, as far as possible, the charities will be able to leave with websites they can use immediately.

How does it work?

Each country selects a web team, with people filling the following positions:

  1. Project manager
  2. User experience advocate (information architecture and usability)
  3. Graphic designer
  4. HTML/CSS
  5. Programmer
  6. Content editor/writer

This team then works together over the 24 hours. Whilst members have responsibilities for particular areas, everyone pitches in to do what’s required.

The teams don’t know who they’ll be building the website for until a briefing session at the beginning of the 24 hour period. They’re given content, images and a briefing from a representative of the chosen charity. They have complete freedom as to the platform and setup they use - Ruby on Rails, Windows or LAMP, it’s all part of the fun.

At the end of 24 hours, a team of judges review both sites and select the winner. International pride, bragging rights and a trophy will follow for the winning team.

Events include live blogging, interviews, Twitter and YouTube action throughout. We encouraging people to follow the event online if you can’t watch in person.

Read more about the rules for FullCodePress’ site in a day competition.

Why FullCodePress?

We wanted a name which captured the excitement and intensity of the event and recognized the high level of teamwork needed to succeed. In basketball, a full court press is a potential game-breaker. It’s a frenetic, but organized, system where the defensive team applies pressure to the offensive team by marking them the entire length of the court. It takes a lot of effort and co-ordination to achieve, but the pay-offs are big.

We think it perfectly sums up the atmosphere of our competition. For 24 hrs, teams will be working under sustained pressure to produce something. Not everyone’s going to succeed, but for the best teams, the results will be magical.

FullCodePress. It just sounds right!