When you pick up tomorrow's Augusta Chronicle , it will look a little different. We also think it will be easier to use.

We're going to put more emphasis on local stories and photos. We're going to make it easier to scan quickly through the paper to find items of interest. The overriding principle in all we do will be: What can we do to make your life easier? What do you need to know to make good decisions about your life?

We have changed some of our internal operating structure to emphasize getting more stories on our Web site even quicker, and to tell stories differently online when we can.

Specifically, you will see:

- A front page designed to attract your attention with different kinds of presentation. It won't always be the traditional story with a headline. We already are presenting some stories in a question and answer format, as a graphic, as a series of photos or as a timeline or checklist.

- The "rail" of short items down the left side of each section front will disappear. Readers often go right past these items, and the effect is to make the usable page smaller.

- Page 2A will not be a roundup of nation, world and celebrity briefs. Those briefs will be placed on other pages, where they will pair with national or foreign stories. Celebrity news will appear on a separate page.

- Stories will be placed throughout the first two sections based on news value instead of geography. Right now the first section is reserved for national and foreign news. Local news that doesn't make the front page appears in the B section. With our new plan, the best local news will appear in the A section. News from wire services will appear in the A or B sections.

- Each themed inside page will have a page topper, a word or phrase designed to tell you what kinds of stories are on that page. This will make it easier for you to skim the paper and find exactly the news that interests you. With each page topper will be a tidbit, a short piece of information that tells you something interesting. It could be who to contact, what's next or some statistic that relates to one or more of the stories on the page.

- The editorial and op-ed pages will move to the inside back cover of the first section. You will just have to turn to the back page of the first section, open the page and there will be the opinion pages. This allows us to present the news from the front page on through the first section, without interrupting the flow.

- Page 2A will become an expanded index and a place for readers to talk back to us. We'll run Rants & Raves and pick up some of the best online reader comments. There will be a local photo on the page every day. There will be a detailed index of every section and a regional index, letting you see every story from Richmond, Columbia and Aiken counties. There also will be an update on road construction and traffic delays in the area. We will continue to run information on how to contact the newspaper, lottery numbers and corrections.

- The Metro section will be called Community to reflect what the content will be. We want you to see yourself and your neighbors in these pages. News and feature stories and photos, in addition to Bill Kirby's column, will be on 1B.

- The inside of the section will change. Instead of a collection of briefs on 3B, you will find a daily features page. Monday will be Survive, Tuesday Xtreme, Wednesday Food, Thursday Health, Friday Gardening, Saturday Generations and Sunday a look ahead and a look back at the top stories of the week. Some days there will be two or more features pages. We will continue our Applause, Your Faith and Sunday Your Life sections.

- Obituaries will appear after the features pages.

- Every day there will be a page with upcoming events to help you plan your life. We also will feature upcoming stories in The Chronicle , so you will know when to look for them.

- Instead of limiting our business news to parts of two pages, we will devote as much space as necessary each day. Some days that will be less space, other days it will be several pages. Stock listings will be available only on our Web site. We will run a quick roundup of the market results at the top of the page.

These changes are meant to make the paper easier to use and more helpful. The newspaper and the Web site should reflect the life of our community and should offer you information to make your life easier. If you think of other ways we can do that, please let me know.

The Chronicle is a living, breathing organism that grows out of its community. It will continue to change and evolve as the people of our community change. Thank you for letting us be a part of your life.

Dennis Sodomka is executive editor of The Augusta Chronicle. You can reach him at (706) 823-3487 or by e-mail at dennis.sodomka@augustachronicle.com.