The YETI Spaghetti

Webmaster January 19, 2021 - Reading time: 6 minutes

Howdy Y’all, Yeti Webmaster here!

I hope everyone is keeping well and keeping warm! If you are reading this you have successfully found the new website, Congrats!  I wanted to take the time to introduce its purpose as well as to share some of the things the YETI council has been working on recently.

For many of us, 2020 was a year in transition. Whether you spent the year reflecting, finding new hobbies or just trying to keep things together, this year has definitely challenged us to grow and move forward even when times are tough. The YETI council has also been working to prepare YETI for the future.

This year we made it our goal to lay the groundwork for future councils to be able to fit the needs of the community better. In addition to planning socially distanced gatherings (either online or otherwise) things like setting up a new bank account and streamlining some of the documents and processes are a few of the background projects we’ve been working on. We’re hoping that we can lessen the burden for future council members so they can focus on planning things for yetizens like you! In fact, this is one of the main reasons for refreshing the website. We wanted to create a modern all in one resource that fits the needs of incoming and current ALTs within the Yamanashi community.

YETI has always been an online community and even before Facebook was around we had an online forum that was both the place for chatting / hanging out as well as for scheduling YETI meetups among the local expats of Yamanashi. Over the years, the website had fallen into disarray and the community moved over to the Facebook group that we have today. The YETI Forum itself, with its wealth of information, had also been broken for a long time.

Considering how long the 'yetijapan.com' website has been with this community, we thought it might be nice to give the website a fresh coat of paint and help it transition along with our community. Our goal is not to make this site the new YETI Facebook or Forum but to make it a resource and wealth of information that grows with our community. Hopefully it can be a place where the foreign community can access information regarding all things happening in the prefecture as well as get people connected to the great community we already have. 

For that reason, we've separated the redesign into two phases:

Phase 1: Website Design Refresh - Finished (Sorta)

• Setup the new homepage

• Create a blog for the YETI Spaghetti (We will be posting updates from the council / YETI summaries of the goings on in YETI)

• Event Calendar (Detailing upcoming events for the YETI Community) - *Under Facebook App Review

• About YETI (Update of the About Section and pictures of the council)

• About Yamanashi (Update the interactive map with basic place information / photographs so people can get to know the area)

• FAQ (Created a place to organize FAQ about Yamanashi and getting setup in the area / Japan) 

Phase 2: Yamanashi About Section (Added Functionality) - Ongoing

• Transport Options

• Community uploaded suggestions (Restaurants, English, Speaking Clinics, Shopping, Religion, etc.)

• Sort Recommendations by Type

• Search by Interactive Map

As this is my first foray into large-scale web design, please bear with the mess as things get sorted out. Phase 2 requires a bit more time and effort, so hopefully, we can get this all sorted out soon. In the meantime, you can help out by letting me know areas where information can be added or changed by messaging me on facebook or through email at [email protected].

Matthew Houston

YETI Webmaster - (2020)

Nobunaga Houston - IT Support Staff