Our View: The New CapeCodChronicle.com

In just the seven years since The Chronicle introduced a redesigned website, much has changed online. Readers expect new content regularly and responsive websites which automatically format for different devices — computers, smartphones, tablets. High-quality graphics, bonus content like photo spreads and immediate notification of breaking news are the new normal. It’s a lot for a small operation to keep up with.

With this week’s publication, we bring www.capecodchronicle.com into the 2020s with a new design and features we feel will vastly improve our readers’ online experience. Working with the Community Journalism Project, we’ve built on the best features of our previous site — a clean design and easy to navigate categories — augmented by up-to-date technology and improved communication tools to create an online destination that better serves the towns of Chatham, Harwich, Orleans and Brewster.

What’s different? News, feature and sports stories will be better differentiated, allowing readers to easily find what they are looking for. More content, ranging from photo features expanded on what appears in the print edition to special web-only pages. More variety, with new stories posted between editions and breaking news and town meeting, election and other stories of immediate importance posted as they happen. The new platform also includes other features that we’ll be rolling out in the coming months, including email and text messaging updates and a community calendar.

In conjunction with the website, we’re also implementing a new circulation program that will give subscribers more control over their accounts, providing, for instance, the ability to suspend the paper during vacations and change seasonal addresses.

We’ll of course continue to publish our robust print edition, which will be available online to our subscribers in an easier-to-read electronic edition which will remain free for a period while readers get used to the new site. But our modern news environment dictates that we pivot in this direction. We see it as better serving our readers and hope to hear from you about what you like — or dislike — about the new site. Email your thoughts to us at info@capecodchronicle.com; your input will help us create an even better online experience for everyone.