There’s little doubt that our readers have missed some of the smaller changes we have made in preparation for a big one. With this Sunday’s edition, we will introduce the fruits of our labor: a complete redesign of The Coastland Times.

For those unaware, until December 2017, The Coastland Times was still being physically put together by hand with paper and wax. While some could say it was a bit old-school, it did get the job done. That said, there were many limitations presented by that layout style and it was time for a change. Pages are now laid out by graphic designers on computers, which allows a cleaner overall look and better photo reproduction.

With the exception of the way page make-up is handled – which was more of an internal change – our goal up until this point has been to make the paper appear as close in style as possible to how it’s looked for many years now. Since it has been so long since The Coastland Times has changed its look, now is a great time to give it a facelift, so to speak. We have also been working on new content ideas specifically geared to you – our loyal readers.

Among the changes you’ll see are a completely new layout in terms of both presentation of articles and photos as well as what order they appear in the paper. More pages will be in color to better showcase photos of our beautiful surroundings, sporting events, gatherings and everything else that makes this area everything that it is. The page size will be narrower, but choices have been made in terms of typography that should still make the paper easy to read.

As far as content goes, we will have regular local editorials and columns, expanded business and food-related features, more relevant local news, additional sports and school coverage, water-related stories and photography and we are reviving the Focus page. We also welcome reader-submitted ideas and information, such as letters to the editor; engagement, wedding and birth announcements; fish pictures and anything else you’d like to share. If you have something you’d like to see in The Coastland Times, we would love to hear about it.

We are excited about the changes that we have made with our readers in mind, and we certainly hope that you will be, too. Please let us know what you think – we always welcome feedback.

Theresa Schneider is the general manager of the Coastland Times. She can be reached at theresa.schneider@thecoastlandtimes.com.