published: Tuesday, July 29, 2008

NewsSun.com gets facelift

Staff report

SEBRING - More stories. More photos. More advertisements.

Quite simply, it's more for you.

The News-Sun has launched its new Web site with more features in response to the growing number of readers both in the printed edition and on the newspaper's Web site at www.newssun.com.

Publisher Clarissa Williams said the changes and upgrades are further proof of the newspaper's commitment to the community.

"Our new and updated Web site is aimed at being more reader-friendly, providing more local content for our readers and involving our readers more with their community and newspaper," Williams said. "We're proud to be the No. 1 provider of local information for our readers. Our updated Web site is part of that ongoing commitment to our communities to be their first choice in print and online for such information."

Below are some of the highlights of the new and update features on www.newssun.com.

Community announcements

Births, engagements, weddings, obituaries and general announcements are welcomed for submission, both for the newspaper's printed version and Web site.

"Our community is important to us and that's why we are all about local news. We want to share what's important to you, our readers, our neighbors. We still accept news submissions, but our updated Web site now makes it easier to submit the information you want us to print in a timely manner," Editor Romona Washington said.

Forms for submitting these news events are located under the Services tab in the middle of the newspaper's home page. After clicking on the tab, readers will find their respective forms for filing out their news item. Readers can fill out the form and link attachments to any related pictures that can be used with the event. Letters to the Editor may also be submitted electronically through our Web site by clicking on e-Letter to the Editor.

Breaking news

Although the newspaper's emphasis is on local news, readers will also be able to access breaking news on a state, national and international level through text and video feeds from the Associated Press.

Also, breaking news on a local level will continue to be posted with up-to-minute updates toward the top of the newspaper's Web site.

Photo gallery

When our photographers attend events, they take many more photographs than we can print in the newspaper. Now, you will be able to see more of those photos in the News-Sun's Photo Gallery, where we have multiple photos from many events in our coverage area.

Enhanced reader features

With our advanced archive search, you'll be able to access more stories published in the News-Sun. Also, if you're curious what stories are the most viewed, e-mailed and commented by those on our Web site, you'll be able to view those features as well. The "Archives" tab is located at the top of the Web site home page, and the most read, e-mailed and commented articles are located just under the main story near the top of the home page.

Also, you can continue to e-mail a story to a friend through our Web site.

And for those readers who may find it easier to read a Spanish version, just click on the Espanol button on the home page and the entire Web site will be translated to Spanish.

More interactivity

We're offering new ways to interact through our Web site, including blogs, forums, story comments, and poll questions. Also, an enhanced community calendar is available to place more items to involve area readers.

The updated calendar is easier to view and navigate. "This is will be wonderful for our community as events are planned. They can be checked here for conflicts. People in the community will be able to upload their own information into the calendar," Washington said.

The new items, called "Your Thoughts", "Your Community" and "Your Events," are located toward the bottom of the home page on the left side. This is also the place where readers can submit news tips or their own news stories.

Readers will also be able to find out the latest gas prices in their respective communities, along with an enhanced radar weather service forecast.

"Knowing the weather throughout the day is important for many of our readers. We want to provide them with the most up-to-date information so they can be prepared for the elements, or simply plan for a weekend getaway and the price of gasoline is top of mind for everyone. This new feature helps find the best prices in Highlands County," Williams said.

Obituaries

We've revamped our obituaries to make the searches available by name and not just by the date of publication.

This is a new feature, as we previously placed all of the obituaries under one story. This will make it much easier for our readers to search specifically by name. If they want to read more about that person, they just have to click on the name and they'll be able to view the full obituary.

Obituaries are located near the bottom of the Web site's home page.

Feedback

Are these changes easier for you? Do you have a suggestion for improvements? If you have compliments or complaints, we want to hear from you. You can let us know via e-mail publisher@newssun.com or at editor@newssun.com, by phone at (863) 385-6155, ext. 516 or through the mail at News-Sun, Attn: Web site comments, 2227 U.S. 27 South, Sebring, FL, 33870.