LETTER FROM THE EDITOR: Herald welcomes students back with new features

Michelle Day

The 1989 flick “Back to the Future Part II” predicted that newspapers in 2015 would have the same look as they did 30 years ago – though they’d be delivered “via Compu-Fax Satellite” instead of a delivery boy on a bike.

In 2010, it’s clear that prediction was a little off. But newspapers have had to change with the times and change often.

Cue fall 2010’s Herald.

Last fall’s Herald launched a new website, a slimmer, sexier print edition and a new production schedule. This fall, we have more changes for you to check out.

A NEW WEBSITE: You may ask, “Wait. Why another website redesign only a year after the last one?” The simple answer is that the new website is better.

With the new wkuherald.com, we can better plan out visual organization of content. In plain terms – we’ll be better able to design the site around the news of the day, just as we do in the print edition.

Breaking news? Look for prominent space on our home page that groups updated stories and links you to related articles, photos, videos, etc.

Football game coming up? As game day gets closer, look for links to the game’s predictions, live coverage, blog posts, etc., all grouped together.

THE TOPPER EXTRA: Friday’s sports section is being replaced by a separate sports tab – a more in-depth weekly section completely about WKU sports.

The publication will detail news of the week and preview weekend match-ups.

MORE BLOGS: You may already be familiar with the Herald’s sports blog, Topper Talk. Topper Talk will be accompanied by a news blog and a photo blog.

The news blog will provide you with quick hits of daily news that will add to – not repeat – the content in the print edition.

The photo blog will display photos not seen in print with notes from the photographers that help you get to know them better.

MORE CONTENT FROM READERS: We’ve scrapped Friday’s editorial in favor of more reader-submitted content.

Instead of waiting for commentaries to appear in our e-mail inboxes (though we still like getting e-mails from you), we’ll be reaching out to you.

And we’ll be updating the online opinion page more often with issues and cartoons we think you’ll find interesting.

Our goal in all of this is to engage readers in more frequent conversation about issues you care about.

As always, the Herald has made these changes with the reader in mind.

We want to provide you with the information you need and want. We exist to inform and entertain, to spark discussion and to listen to your thoughts.

We won’t have perfected it by 2015, but we will have tried.

Let us know what you think.

MICHELLE DAY

Editor-in-chief