Coding Contests

Loved the idea quick codes like navs , forms etc the one who codes first gets the stuff

I think it's an awesome idea, RT. Might be an eye opener for potential members who fit in the Respected Coders group also. :good:

"Whoever codes it first the proper way, valid HTML5/CSS3 wins."

Taking the example of a contact form you could probably do one in 3-5 minutes and win but that's a very very poor contact form to put in the resources area. It would be incredible basic and only really useful for beginners to learn how to code. Give people 30 minutes or an hour and you'll get an ajax powered contact form with HTML 5 input verification and javascript fallback for older browsers that even works with IE 6 and highlights the text in red that's not valid etc. It would also have an optionally enabled captcha to prevent spam.

That's the sort of contact form that would be used if in the resources area but you wouldn't build that in 3 minutes. Only negative to doing this is you could limit the amount of people capable of winning as some may struggle to add advanced features.

Then you have the problem of having coders online. A good coder would probably have better things to work on for an hour.
All the coders are never online at the same time and most are too busy to take time out to be ready to enter a competition at a designated time. It's not like a quiz where anyone can just enter.

I'm not sure what the right answer is and don't really have a suggestion just mentioning some potential issues you may need to take into account before you start.

Agreed with the time being a limitation^

Why not have a 1 week time scale for the entries which are PM'ed anonymously like the SOTW. Then, upload the coded stuff to blank pages for members to view and post a poll, the winner wins by vote. Maybe voted on by respected devs only?

That gets around the issue of time...

All the well-coded entries can be released as a pack, e.g. WJ Contact Forms Pack or WJ Navigation Pack. (Make some terms and conditions on entering, so every entry can be released)

Going a step further why not use the Article Section to allow developers post their work instead of PM. From experience code is not the easiest thing to format and post in a thread and using the article section will ensure the original poster gets it to display the way they want. From what I've seen the area could do with some activity too.

Nice ideas, we will definitely consider these. Others, please do post your opinions.

What do you guys think?

I like the idea quite a bit, The only thing i would be worried about is the legitimacy of the actual work done by the member.

No for me as we don't even have active submitter for SOTW contest..

Suhel said:

No for me as we don't even have active submitter for SOTW contest..

Click to expand...

We do have, check current contests.

HTML is markup and CSS is a style sheet. How does one code without writing code? Sure there's Javascript too but IMHO a coding contest should involve proper programming instead of things usually employed by designers.

Also, as a suggestion, instead of having contests like "make a submit form" or "make a fancy jQuery menu" make it something similar to the stuff you find at Project Euler.