To those of you just seeing the redesigned Salon for the first time, welcome. To the rest of you, you may have noticed the link to go back to the old Salon is gone. We are now in the process of moving all traffic into the new site.

As Richard noted previously, redesigns are inherently disorienting. There are also typically some kinks to work out (and we appreciate every bug report). On top of which, we've still got work to do. In addition to finishing up the transition on Letters and search, and finessing the presentation of the front page and the Comics, we're continuing to fine-tune details site-wide -- based in large part on your feedback. So we'll leave the "beta" label up there in the header until we've got everything running as smoothly as possible. At that point, we'll also remove the feedback link from the header. But we'll be putting more time and energy into this new blog, Inside Salon, as we settle into the new site, and we look forward to hearing from you in the comments on an ongoing basis.

We have lots of new stuff to announce in the coming weeks and months, so watch this space!

As a result of the feedback to date, we've already made a number of bug fixes and other adjustments, such as how the wires are presented on the front page. Additionally, there are parts of the new site we are still working on -- including, for example, the presentation of the Comics and the way the print function works.

We're also still evolving the cover. Although much of our traffic doesn't come through the front page, we want that page to do the best possible job of presenting the most recent content to the readers who use it. We also recognize that not all readers access and process information in the same way. We've designed an extremely robust new cover that puts a lot of content on display and does so in a bold, dynamic way. Many of the beta readers have raved about this cover; many have commented against it. We are continuing to fine-tune the design and the wiring of it in a quest to satisfy the various needs of our readers.

We want to hear from you about how you use Salon and what you'd like to see as we move forward. That's the purpose of the public beta program. As I said, we read and appreciate every e-mail, so once you've seen the new site please do send us your thoughts.

-- Richard Gingras

• Nicer to Look At. An overall aesthetic redesign to simplify the look and improve the site's navigation and make it more concise. A Full Menu tab will unveil one-click navigation to all areas of the site.
• Easier to Read. We're narrowing the column for Salon articles to make for easier reading. Stories will now immediately expand to their full length with a single click of the Continue Reading link.
• Richer Home Page and Sections. Both the home page and every section cover are being redesigned to let us react more fluidly to the day's events. We're also redesigning each section page to present more content. With the redesign we're creating a more flexible stage from which to present our coverage. The home and section page layouts will continue to evolve over time as we make use of these capabilities.
• Comprehensive Topic Pages. Most Salon stories are about issues and topics of ongoing interest. We will now surface all of our coverage on a given topic on one page, simplifying the reader's ability to keep up with everything from healthcare reform to "Mad Men."
• Useful Author Pages. We're proud of our team of reporters and writers and believe it's important that you know more about them and about what they've written in the past. These pages will also make it easier for you to follow your favorite writers and know when new pieces have been published.
• Better Tools to Share Salon. We're adding an array of new tools to make it easier to share articles, follow authors, follow topics of interest. We're making it much easier to e-mail an article to your friends or Tweet about that article to all your followers.

And that's just scratching the surface.

We've been conducting a very small private beta in recent weeks, but we'll be heading into a public beta phase in the next few days, which will entail inviting a few thousand people a day into the new site. We'll be starting with our Salon Premium members before gradually opening it up to the larger audience, and we'll be responding to bug reports and feedback along the way.

Redesigns are inherently disorienting, but we're excited about what we've built and eager for you to see it.

One important note: This is just the beginning. We've got many ideas for both fine-tuning and expanding on the new site. We look forward to hearing your thoughts along the way.