As followers of www.independent.com.mt have realised, as from Friday afternoon we have carried out a number of changes to the way our online portal looks.

We have taken up your suggestions and added a few initiatives of our own to make it more user-friendly as well as more attractive to our growing number of visitors, apart from creating more space for advertising.

All content will remain free of charge.

We have enhanced our news section. Apart from the five top stories which have remained as our main feature, we have given more space to other news items with a photo and accompanying text to give you a better idea of what’s in store for you when you click.

We have given opinion pieces a more prominent role on the right hand side of the main page, and they will now operate on a rotating roster that allows visitors to keep better track of who is sharing his or her views on current affairs subjects.

We have also added a video button on the homepage main menu, which allows you to view what videos we are producing. A video icon is also appearing on each story which carries footage with it. Videos will become a regular feature on our website.

The main menu bar now includes a Christmas Directory button which with a click will take you to a set of stories about ideas for gifts and other matters related to the festive season.

We hope you enjoy the new look we have given to our website. Our commitment will remain to offer you quality reporting, fair analysis and a touch of entertainment.