Build it and they will come

June 19, 2010 1:53 PM

A 24-hour website-in-a-day competition with national honours on the line, FullCodePress is currently underway. This is the third competition, and the first with a team from the United States. The competition chooses non-profit organisations, and the teams have 24 hours to build a fully-functioning site. Catch up with the overnight highlights, or see the sites being built by the Codaroos, Code Blacks, or Team USA as they develop. For those not allergic to twitter, cheering and trashtalking here.
posted by szechuan (19 comments total)

Team USA has design rockstars led by bobulate - should be interesting to see the results.

thanks for posting this
posted by infini at 2:24 PM on June 19, 2010

Go the Code Blacks!
posted by Samuel Farrow at 2:31 PM on June 19, 2010

The hourly screencaps provided an interesting revelation: the Aussies/Codaroos started by installing Word Press 3.0 (I'd know that default theme anywhere). Makes me feel better about my own current site-building project (7 people X 24 hours = 168 person-hours... I've spent less time than that over the last 4 weeks).
posted by oneswellfoop at 4:44 PM on June 19, 2010

Next year I want them to do my site! I suck at web design. I also can't afford to pay a designer.

I'm mostly going to be interested in the final results.

The 24 hour imposition is a bit weird though. It would be cool if they got like a reasonable time, like whatever would normally be allotted to a client.
posted by cjorgensen at 4:54 PM on June 19, 2010

... the Aussies/Codaroos started by installing Word Press 3.0 ...

Team USA used Wordpress too, I believe. The Codeblacks used SilverStripe.

The 24 hour imposition is a bit weird though. It would be cool if they got like a reasonable time, like whatever would normally be allotted to a client.

I think the 24 hour constraint is fantastic. Everyone involved is hyped up, switched on and focussed, the client has given them a brief and stepped back, trusting them to do their jobs. And it's all over before anyone feels like they're in a death march.

Sounds like the perfect project to me.
posted by mattgeeknz at 5:01 PM on June 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

They've just finished. Winners are announced in about four hours.
posted by mattgeeknz at 5:06 PM on June 19, 2010

When I first loaded up Team USA's site I thought Wow, that's "inspired" by Jason Santa Maria, then, after checking out who's on the team, I realize that it is Jason Santa Maria.

/dumps pop corn kernels back in the jar
posted by Mick at 5:40 PM on June 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

I haven't looked at the others' sites, but I don't like the way Team USA's site lays out on my 15" screen. (Yes, my window consumes all 1,200,000 pixels of my screen...)
posted by 47triple2 at 6:04 PM on June 19, 2010

I'm sure many people have heard of the 48 hour movie competition, so this seems similar - just doing a webpage instead of a movie.
posted by SirOmega at 6:04 PM on June 19, 2010

Go the Code Blacks!
posted by vac2003 at 7:57 PM on June 19, 2010

I should have added that our local Wellington newspaper, The Dominion Post, had a great article on this on Saturday morning.
posted by vac2003 at 8:03 PM on June 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

cjorgensen:

The 24 hour imposition is a bit weird though. It would be cool if they got like a reasonable time, like whatever would normally be allotted to a client.

Normally, a project of that size done properly (with a development team with all those roles), would last anywhere from 3 to 9 months.
posted by thebestsophist at 8:21 PM on June 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

Let's hope the judges aren't using Camino (or I imagine, any other Gecko based browser) in the cross-compatibility tests. Team USA's falls apart after the front page on Camino 2.0.
posted by FuzzyLumpkins at 8:48 PM on June 19, 2010

The bios of Team USA are exacerbating my inferiority complex. I'm going to get a string cheese and watch one of those tv shows where a group of ostensibly adult women are trying to "date" an over-the-hill recording artist.
posted by jeoc at 8:52 PM on June 19, 2010 [2 favorites]

....and the Codaroos win...
posted by vac2003 at 1:12 AM on June 20, 2010

The ‘WHAT COULD GO WRONG’ award for ambition went to the Code Blacks for their integration of a Facebook login. They also got the ‘B1NARY SOLO’ award for most l337 syntax.

Team USA took the ‘!IMPORTANT’ award for “Most awesome in IE6″ which will no doubt help them sleep at night.

Meanwhile, the Codaroos also scooped the ‘I MADE IT LICKABLE’ for the most gratuitous use of flair (drop-shadows and rounded corners were cited), the ‘CLICK OKAY TO CANCEL’ award for the most empathetic design, and finally the (painful to write) ‘ITS YOU’RE AWARD’ for most anal content.

;p
posted by infini at 1:27 AM on June 20, 2010

All the charities got a kick-ass website plus a lifetime subscription to Xero. Not bad for a days work. Surprised that USA didn't walk away with the win: they made a gorgeous site.
posted by mattgeeknz at 4:27 AM on June 20, 2010

Whoever won must have had a team in place that worked like a well oiled machine, creating websites or creating blogs can sometimes drive me batty when I try it myself. There's always something I miss. Big ups to all those who participated. It takes a lot of discipline and communication to pull it off and great temperaments.
posted by irenegreen at 1:03 PM on June 23, 2010

Whoever won must have had a team in place that worked like a well oiled machine, creating websites or creating blogs can sometimes drive me batty when I try it myself. There's always something I miss. Big ups to all those who participated. It takes a lot of discipline and communication to pull it off and great temperaments.
posted by irenegreen at 1:05 PM on June 23, 2010