The new front page layout is lighter, easier to read and navigate and does a better job of featuring our top stories.
You'll still find all our most popular content — noteworthy items, obituaries, slideshows, people in the news — collected below our top stories. On therighthand side, look for easy access to high-traffic inside content like the iBerkshires Blotter (covering fires, crimes & accidents), columnists and more.
Our inside story pages will take even better advantage of photos to help illustrate our articles. And our new font is easier on the eyes.
We're still tweaking the new look so we're giving readers the option to stick with the current layout for a little longer. To try the new iBerkshires, look for the link in the Noteworthy section or click here. Give it a spin and tell us what you think in the comments section below or email the editor at tdaniels@iberkshires.com.
Why the new look? Because the iBerkshires family is always looking to improve our product based on our readers' input. Most of the comments have been that the site is too busy — and we agree. But that's because we're busy all the time adding and updating news.
Over the past year:
• We've added Pittsfield correspondent Joe Durwin, features writer Stephen Dravis, and morning editor John Durkan on the editorial side. Andrew Roiter has joined our sales team.
• We've expanded our high school sports sections, with more to come.
• We've added FOUR new hyperlocal sites — NorthAdams.com, Williamstown.com, Pittsfield.com and the newest, SouthBerkshires.com — for local news.
• We've expanded our Facebook presence as well as Twitter and Tumblr.
• We've created a new iBerkshires Marketplace and Tumblr specifically for our advertisers.
• We've covered every graduation and high school prom. (The slideshow champ is currently the Pittsfield High Prom with an astounding 144,682 views.)
• We've seen our traffic jump nearly 40 PERCENT.
• We've become the go-to site to find out what's happening RIGHT NOW.
To ensure iBerkshires is always available to our readers, we've moved to the "cloud." That means we can now handle any amount of traffic that comes our way — even if a hurricane hits us!
Our e-newsletter, the iBeat, is now a weekly and has swelled to a circulation of more than 9,000. Sign up for the iBeat here.
We're not done. We'll be spending the summer looking at new ways to deliver information to you. The use of Facebook for comments has worked very well and that will continue, but don't forget that you can register on any of our hyperlocals to submit photos, letters to the editor and other materials. iBerkshires is a community news website and we depend on you to help us cover the news.
Best of all, we're free. No subscription; no paywall for any of our sites. And, we're locally owned and operated.
Pittsfield.com welcomes critical, respectful dialogue. Name-calling, personal attacks, libel, slander or foul language is not allowed. All comments are reviewed before posting and will be deleted or edited as necessary.
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