A GROUP OF WEB designers, writers, programmers and code writers have worked through the night in Dublin to create new websites for three charities.

This is the second year of the 24 The Web project, which saw 21 people chosen for their various skills gather in a donated space in the city centre to build three new websites in a day.

The volunteers were recruited with the aid of a Twitter campaign by organisers Stewart Curry and Darragh Doyle, and divided into three teams of seven.

Each team featured a designer, a programmer, a content writer, somebody responsible for information architecture and user experience (IA/UX), a HTML/CSS coder, a project manager, and a wild card. The wild card, according to the organisers, could have been anyone who felt they had the skills to lend to the project.

The marathon began at 10.15am on Saturday morning and finished up at 9.15am this morning (allowing for the clocks going back).

Three charities were chosen from fifty applicants, and each team was presented with an organisation to work with yesterday morning. The teams had no prior knowledge about which charities they would be assigned to. Organiser Darragh Doyle told TheJournal.ie that charities were chosen on the basis that they did not have a budget to build their own websites. He said that the work and time which has gone in to the sites cannot be underestimated.

The three chosen charities (and their shiny new websites) are:

Almost Home was developed by Team A. The charity helps animals in danger of being destroyed to find a new home. Previously the charity’s online presence was just a Facebook page.

Team B came up with a site for Dress for Success Dublin, which empowers unemployed women to help them find work.

Team C came up with this site for Change Nation, which is working to bring 50 of the world’s leading social innovators to Dublin next March for a summit.

The sites are hosted free of charge by Blacknight and the workspace at Grand Canal Dock was donated by Engine Yard. The volunteers were sustained throughout the marathon by sustenance from Yamamori and Jo Burger.

The organisers say that the success of this years event means they may be able to expand the project next year to include more volunteers and more charities. For now though, they’ve all headed home for a well deserved rest.

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