IT’S out with the old and in with the new for the Examiner in cyberspace.
Today sees the start of a new chapter in the history of the Huddersfield Examiner online with the launch of a new-look website.
The site, which has the same address, www.examiner.co.uk, is still the best place on the internet to get all the latest and breaking news and sport from in and around Huddersfield.
There will be more videos and pictures, leisure and entertainment news, views and opinions.
On the back of the phenomenal success of Baldy’s Blog – the award-winning weblog written by Examiner reporter Adrian Sudbury – we will be starting a number of new blogs.
There will be blogs covering football and rugby league, as well as a blog called The Rant, which does exactly what it says on the tin.
Readers’ letters and Examiner Comment will be available to read online.
The latest musings from Examiner columnists Denis Kilcommons, Hilarie Stelfox, Keith Hellawell, Terry George and John Avison will be launched into cyberspace for the first time.
And there is the opportunity for you to get involved by sending us your stories, pictures and videos and taking part in our discussion forums.
And don’t forget, you’ll be able to search for jobs, homes and cars, items to buy and sell and even your dream date.
Editor Roy Wright said: “The old website served us well, but the internet continues to make rapid advances and we have to move with the times.
“We need to ensure that the service we provide online is as accessible, comprehensive and interactive as possible.
“We hope that our thousands of valued readers who used the old site will continue to log on and enjoy using the new one, and that a whole new army of cyber surfers joins them.”
The new website is the latest advance in the Examiner’s presence online.
The paper was one of the first regional publications to embrace the internet when it originally launched a companion website, branded Examinet, in 1996.
On June 26 of that year we reported: “The Examiner today takes a step forward into the electronic age with a new service on the internet.”
At the time there were only about 36m people worldwide with internet access. That figure is now more than 1.24bn.
The number of UK homes with internet access has risen from one in 10 to about one in two.
The website was reincarnated in 2001 in its previous form.
It continues to be accessed by people from as far afield as Australia and the USA.
The new Examiner website follows the relaunch of several other sites in Trinity Mirror Group.
David Black, the company’s director of regional digital media, said: “The upgrade of the Huddersfield Examiner site will further improve our online proposition and gives us a tremendous platform to grow our online reach and revenues locally.
“We are now well on our way to achieving our goal of publishing the leading sites in our local markets, complementing the strength of our market-leading print titles.
“But it is not just about redesigning our sites. Ensuring our journalists are up to speed with these developments is integral to our strategy, and this is why we have put in place a comprehensive multi-media training programme.”
