Welcome to our new website

9:38am Tuesday 9th September 2008

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THE Oxford Mail's newlook website has been unveiled bringing our readers more news, sport and videos.

Our new site is designed to build on the success that we have enjoyed in recent years and it contains some exciting new sections and a bright new look which we hope will make our readers' online experience more enjoyable.

The most striking change is the homepage, which is now a one-stop shop for all your news and information.

It contains our pick of the best stories of the day, a constantly updated feed of national news, sport and entertainment and an at-a-glance overview of the most popular stories, video and pictures.

As well as a window into the news of the day, the homepage acts as a vital information source.

At the top, you will see a weather icon which reflects what the weather is actually doing, and if you click on it, it will give you the forecast for the coming days.

Also on the homepage — and throughout our site — is the new live travel and what's on feed. This brings you up-to-the-minute information about traffic accidents, roadworks and rail delays in the Oxfordshire area , so you can easily see what's happening and alter your travel plans accordingly.

If you're looking for something to do, click on the What's On link next to Travel to see a list of events taking place in the area right now.

The second most striking change to our site is the navigation. Until now, our sections have been listed down the left hand side of the screen. Now they sit across the top.

Click on any one section, and the second level of the bar will give you a breakdown of the features within that section.

A major change to the way you can get involved in the site is that we now require all people wishing to leave comments to be registered as users.

It means filling out a simple form and then waiting for a confirmation email to arrive in your In Box Reflecting our desire to get reader's more involved with the site, we have created a new section called Your Say, which groups together some of our site's best-loved features - blogs, columns, letters and the forum — all in one place.

Our new look sites have some new commercial opportunities that should really benefit our advertisers in driving as much traffic to their sites as possible. The new local advertisers panel, allows local businesses to take a cost effect button advert from as little as £50 a month, as well as offering additional opportunities such as advertising videos online within key sections of our web sites.

Our jobs, homes and cars sections although looking different and offering more exposure to our advertisers, will be undergoing a revamp over the coming months, to make them even more search engine friendly. This will ensure that whenever you search within any of the three areas the advertiser will get the maximum exposure each time.

The one thing that has not changed is our commitment to bring you quality, up-to-the-minute news, sport, entertainment and information.

Editor Simon O'Neill said: "We have put a lot of hard work into this site and we hope that our readers like what they see.

"We're sure our readers will bear with us as we are trying to provide a site with increased and improved content and something they can get involved in as well."

We hope you enjoy it and look forward to receiving your comments either online or via email.