Navigating the new LDN

[January 04, 2010]  Thanks to all our great sponsors and readers, Lincoln Daily News is three times larger than it was just two years ago.

With this increase in size come problems that ownership and staff have been working very hard to remedy.

For example, just printing out our front page would take between 11 and 12 pages every day. Everything we have in an issue would take almost a full ream of paper if printed out. And if you wanted to print out our entire 10-year archive… Well, you better own a paper company.

With this huge increase in information, LDN realizes changes to make the paper more reader-friendly were necessary. And we always want our publication to be reader-friendly.

Newspapers have this same problem with size in their Sunday editions. What they do is break their paper down into sections according to categories, thus helping their readers find the stories they want to read without spending needless time going through the entire edition.

We think that system is a proven way to help make a large publication easier to navigate and to read.

Beginning today, we will have LDN available in sections with high-visibility redirect buttons at the top of each edition's front page to get you where you want to go without looking through our entire newspaper.

The categories in the new LDN are:

• Top Stories: In this section you can find Today's Top Stories, Yesterday's Top Stories, Letters to the Editor, Perspectives, Close Up and the Archives.

• In News you will find: Local News, Where They Stand, State, National and International News, Odd Stories, Politics, Health and Science News.

• In Business you will find: Business News, the Business Directory, the Stock Market Report, Classifieds, Area Gas Prices as well as fliers and coupons.

• In Community you will find: Community News, Community Calendar, Announcements, Clubs and Organizations' News, Spiritual Life, Church Directory, Law and Courts, Teaching and Learning, Home and Family, and Obituaries.

• In the Leisure section you can find: Entertainment News, This Day in History, Tourism, Out and About, Movies and Videos, Restaurant menus, Grab Your Fork recipe page, and Pets.

• In the Sports section you can find: Local Sports News, College Sports and Professional Sports.

Don't worry; you won't be tested on this. All the buttons tell you what is in a section just by hovering your curser over each section.

Now we know there are readers who like everything to be just the way it was. Like with an old pair of shoes, you have become comfortable with the old LDN, and we have made allowances for you.

At the far right, there's a "Show ALL Sections" button that converts the new LDN back into the old LDN format so you don't have to change your reading habits if you don't want to.

We look forward to 2010 with great excitement and anticipation. We will continue to grow, thanks to our great advertisers and you, the readers. With our ever-increasing role as your neighborhood newspaper, we felt now was a perfect time to start the new year off with the new LDN.

This is just one of many additions and changes we have planned for 2010, and we look forward to sharing them with you as the year progresses.

Happy New Year. And thanks for being a part of this.

[The New LDN]