About FullCodePress

FullCodePress is a series of web competitions - 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.

The first event will be held in Australia on Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 August 2007 between Australia and New Zealand. In 2008 there will be a worldwide challenge for any interested countries – to be held in Wellington New Zealand. We’ll also be facilitating and encouraging competitions within individual countries.

What sort of website will the teams be building?

Each competition will see a charitable organization selected to be the recipient of a fully functional website at the end of 24 hours. Emphasis will be placed on ensuring that, as far as possible, the charity will be able to leave with a website they can use immediately.

How does it work?

Each country will select 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
  7. Captain’s choice (can be someone from any speciality)

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

The teams won’t know who they’ll be building the website for until a briefing session at the beginning of the 24 hour period. They’ll be given content, images and a briefing from a representative of the chosen charity. They’ll 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 will review both sites and select the winner. International pride, bragging rights and a trophy will follow for the winning team.

Events will include live blogging, interviews, Twitter and YouTube action throughout. We’ll be 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 Full Code Press?

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.

Full Code Press. It just sounds right!