By Steve Stratford, Deputy Editor

WELCOME to our brand spanking new website!

I admit it's been a long time coming, but we've been planning this launch for months and months, and due to various delays it has been pushed back a fair few weeks more than we'd have liked. Rumours that we forgot to make sure we owned the Weekly News web domain are completely unfounded...

And we hope you like what you see. Every Thursday morning the site will be updated with the latest main news stories from that day's newspaper edition. This means loyal North Walians from all corners of the globe can keep up to date with what's going on back home, whether they've emigrated to New Zealand, backpacking in Nepal or visiting the Aztec ruins of South America.

We'll also have all the latest sport, plus more news and sport than we can fit in the Weekly News itself. There's always more going on than we can squeeze into the newspaper, so the website enables the news and sport desks to get even more information out to the masses than ever before in our 118 year history.

We have two blogs - the warm-hearted tome you see before you, plus a sports blog by our respected sports editor Tim Channon, which will launch later this month.

We have exclusive photo galleries and videos to watch. For every photograph taken by our snappers at public events like the Victorian Extravaganza or Prom Day, there are probably five more we haven't got space to publish. The beauty of the Weekly News online is that we can give even more for your money by uploading pictures we couldn't get in the paper.

We have a discussion forum for those of you who like to air their views in a more instant way than writing or e-mailing a well-crafted letter. We want to hear everything you have to say about any given subject on our forum, so don't forget to register for free and get typing!

We have regular votes related to local issues of the day - this week for instance, we're asking what you think is the best solution to Llandudno's historic parking problem - multi-storey car park or park and ride? Or neither! You decide!

But there are also things we won't be putting online, features we're keeping just for the newspaper. While we're excited about everything the new website offers, we're still just as keen to ensure the longevity and quality of the print edition, so popular features such as Past Times, Health, School Report and The Issue won't be uploaded, just so you still have an excuse to pay out 65p every Thursday morning. Without that, there'd be no free website either...

We have loads of exciting features planned for the website over the coming weeks and months, and we're not ashamed to be shouting from the rooftops about what we have to offer.

Let us know what you think of our new site, what could be enhanced, made better, improved... what you like, what you want to see more of, and what you think we're doing just right.
Happy surfing!

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