Today, we launch an all-new website, our second in as many years, one that will take the best features of the current site, adding to them many new features, content elements and tools in a structure that will allow the new site to constantly evolve and be upgraded.

We hope and expect you will find the new site to be not only pleasing to the eye, but also easier to navigate and simpler to use. The website will continue to be our daily, sometimes hourly, delivery mechanism for getting news that matters to you in a timely fashion.

In a day and time when most of the stories one might read about the newspaper industry as a whole predict an erosion of the business model to some degree, the Shelby County Reporter is growing dramatically in reach, depth of content and quality. No question my perspective is more than a bit biased, but the fact the newspaper has earned the Alabama Press Association’s award for the best community newspaper four years running adds at least a bit of credibility to my opinion. My mother would also agree.

Ultimately however, the only opinion that matters when it comes to this newspaper and website is yours, and it is with that benchmark in mind that we have approached the website relaunch. What we hope you will discover is that the design, aesthetics and general usability of the redesigned site will be dramatically improved over our former site.

Our approach to the changing tides in our industry has been very different than many of our peers. We continue to heavily invest in expanding content and in improving our methods of delivering news that matters to you most. We have also been very aggressive in our approach to recruiting, retaining and training the very best people and in making certain they have quality equipment with which to do their jobs. We hope our approach has been noticeable to you.

Further, we hope the investment we are making makes your newspaper and its website somehow more useful to you as you go about everyday life in this wonderful community.

Tim Prince is President and Publisher of the Shelby County Reporter. He can be reached at 669-3131 ext. 28 or by e-mail at tim.prince@shelbycountyreporter.com.