I received a thoughtfully composed email from a longtime user in the Portland area, responding to the upcoming changes. I think this will be a reaction of many people when the new site launches, so the issue is worth exploring here. Here's the writer's key point:

Since the last "re-design" of your site I have found it much more difficult to find news and information useful to me.... After reading your blog update about re-design, my reaction is that there is some useful information that will be more easily accessed (trails, entertainment schedules, etc) but I hope that these will not take the place of the news.

Here's my reply:

Thanks for taking the time to write.

What you're describing is one of the big reasons we're making this change. News is important to us as a company and obviously to you as a web user. The role of local news on the www.PressHerald.com site will become stronger as a result of this change.

The things you're describing that currently overshadow news on the MaineToday.com site? Actually they will become more prominent.

The idea is that people like yourself will want to make PressHerald.com your home page, and check MaineToday.com for upcoming events, community connections etc. People who are not very oriented to news, who represent a good chunk of the population, hopefully will find material of interest on the new Mainetoday.com, and will then move to our news sites when they want local news.

I realize we've been telling you for 12 years to "make MaineToday.com your home page" and now we're changing our story. I hope you'll consider changing your home page to PressHerald.com (if the new MaineToday.com doesn't meet your news needs)

Again, thanks for writing, and thanks especially for your loyal usage of our services.

Joe

Don't get attached to MaineToday.com as it looks today.

Here's a mockup of how it will look later this week. (Update - now it looks like July 8) Dude, where's my newspaper?:

This probably comes under the heading of "you never know where you'll find new talent." But there's this guy working just down the hall, writing and editing for the Press Herald editorial page. I've seen him around the building but that's about it. One day, we get to talking and it turns out he's into making videos. I check out some of his stuff, and it's pretty good, and funny too. So I ask if he'd like to try doing a video blog.

The rest isn't history -- yet -- but
Roger McCord's "vlog" is one piece of the new MaineToday.com.
We're working to make MaineToday.com more useful, while also giving it lots of voice and personality. As our newspaper brands continue to expand the news mission of Blethen Maine Newspapers online, you're going to see (and hear) more and different voices on the MaineToday.com brand.

I know I'll hear lots of, "That doesn't belong on a newspaper site." You're right, which is one reason we're doing it.

Just check it out. If you like it, you can say so, right on
Roger's vlog. Same if you don't.

Today I'm starting a blog to help describe some of the changes we're making here at MaineToday.com. The title of the blog "Green Line" is internal shorthand for "don't stop innovating!" If you want to know more about that, click "more about the Green Line" above.

Anyway, beyond the upcoming changes, I'll use this blog to talk about new developments, point out some good work, maybe even talk about stuff happening elsewhere in our industry.

By this time next month, you'll be looking at a whole new MaineToday.com. It will have less duplication with our sister web sites of the Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram, Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel. It will have more "places to go, things to do, people to see." It will have a new logo, new design, more modern feel.

If you want the best, most complete report on the day's news in Maine, you'll want to set your home page to www.pressherald.com, www.kjonline.com and www.onlinesentinel.com. Pick the one that best suits your interests, and check it throughout the day. If you want the best ideas for how to enjoy Maine -- today, tonight, this weekend -- set your home page to MaineToday.com. By the way, here's the new logo:

Why are we making this change after 12 years of building up MaineToday.com as a more comprehensive brand and site? There are three main reasons:

First, we hear you. Newspaper readers increasingly expect to go online and interact with their newspaper brand. Our newspaper newsrooms are now moving rapidly with blogs, breaking news, photo galleries and more. So the newspaper brands will be the focus for news and related information.

Second, we found that the weight of news was overshadowing many of the cool, useful tools within MaineToday.com. Did you know we have a searchable index of hiking trails, movie times for every theater in Maine, the biggest entertainment calendar in Maine? Our research showed that many of you are not aware of these features, but you'd like to have them!

Third, we have ambitious plans to create even more of those useful features to help you enjoy Maine more, and we need a larger canvas to display them on. By moving some pieces onto their proper locations on the newspaper sites, we can make room for the new stuff.

This is a blog, so I'll keep this first entry short, and post another entry soon. In the meantime, post your thoughts, questions, ideas below. What features of MaineToday.com do you enjoy most? Have you seen features elsewhere you'd like us to consider? Any questions you'd like me to address in a future blog entry?