Carolyn Washburn

cwashburn@enquirer.com

Hello!

I am pleased to introduce you to our new and improved Cincinnati.com website. We're excited to bring you a great upgrade. Let me walk you through many of the improvements, and then go check it out.

Here are 10 ways to enjoy your new Cincinnati.com.





1. More visuals

A cleaner, high-impact design displays a photo or video with almost every story.

2. Two ways to read

You can scan headlines in a visual grid format. Or you can change the view to a list format and see more text. You choose. Below Top News and above the Headlines section, select the grid or list view. Either way, it's the same amount of content you've come to expect from Cincinnati.com.

3. Easy site navigation and search

The most popular topic areas are listed across the bar at the top. From any section or story, quickly click through to the next section or article using the right and left arrows on each page. Looking for something more specific? Use the improved search at the top of the page to find information fast.

4. More engaging article pages

Get more from articles with easy-to-find share tools, embedded photos, galleries, videos and interactive content.

5. Quickly share your favorites

Our Facebook, Twitter, email and comments buttons "stick" with you on the left while scrolling through an article to make it easier for you to share what's interesting to you.

6. Bigger, better photos

Check out The Big Picture. In the right corner of any caption, click the square icon to make the photo full screen. You can click through a gallery that way. It's terrific, especially for sports and our photographers' great scenic Cincinnati shots.

Look for the camera icon at the top of each page. You will see all of Cincinnati.com's photo galleries and videos in a full- screen view.





7. The Right Now section

Right Now is located on the right side of each section front. Here you can find the latest content our team has produced for you -- stories, blogs, photos and videos that are breaking or new "Right Now".

8. Breaking news

When something hot is breaking, it will display in a bold red bar across the top of each section.

9. Improved weather and traffic coverage

A newly designed robust weather page will feature live updates from our breaking news team and other weather sources, extended forecasts, severe weather alerts, and interactive maps. Our traffic page includes the latest conditions -- travel speeds, sites of construction and accidents -- and live updates from our traffic reporters.

10. Quick links to your favorite content

Quick links on the left side of every section take you to some of the most-used content — comics & games, the e-Newspaper, columnists and obituaries.

You can quickly get to the Lifestyle, Editorials and Letters, and Northern Kentucky sections.

And there is a Quick Link for Feedback. We hope you'll use it to help us improve the site and improve stories for you. Our editors read and appreciate every suggestion.

We know you love to tell us what you think and share with other readers. Now, you don't have to leave an article to post and read comments. Click the comment icon next to the social media icons and share your thoughts.

Two other things I want to note to make sure you have a great experience:

Log in. You can still read up to 20 articles without a subscription. But log into the site to ensure uninterrupted access, to get full value for your subscription and to manage newsletters, delivery and other aspects of your account. Log in by hovering over the person icon in the top right corner of any page.

Update your app and get alerts.

The Cincinnati.com app will get an update. Apple users will soon get messages reminding them to download the new app before the old one is discontinued; it's super easy. Delete your current app and download the new one. The Android app will automatically update.

When you update, you will get the message, "Cincinnati would like to send you push notifications." Click OK to make sure you get our news alerts. Our staff alerts you to breaking traffic and weather situations that may affect you, and we update other news we break so you don't miss anything until you have time later to look at the app or website. (Of course you can go into your settings to turn off the sound if you don't prefer to hear your alert.)

Check our frequently asked questions.

Your subscription includes all of this content, delivered to you in all these ways. Make sure you log in, download the latest app and OK your alerts to get the full value of your subscription. And, of course, you can always e-mail me.