You may have noticed this morning that things are looking a little different around here – OK, in some regards, a lot different.

Last night, we set to work rolling out the new Doha News website.

We’re really excited to be shifting platforms – from Tumblr to WordPress – because we finally have full control over our site.

You’ll notice the front page looks entirely different. We’ve replaced posts of full articles with a list of latest stories instead, complete with thumbnails and teasers, and with three featured stories over the top. It’s a look we feels puts a more professional foot forward.

On article pages, we’ve got bigger text, better sharing tools, a “clean read” view to remove the sidebar, and related stories at the bottom.

Over the top, we’ve installed a fixed header that scrolls with you, making it easier to navigate the website. And on the left, there’s also a scrolling tab that lets you send us a message – be it story idea, suggestion or complaint – as you navigate the site.

There are also a couple more advertising placements, to help us develop into a more sustainable operation. And finally, we’ve implemented a “responsive” layout, which means the site should optimize itself to fit whatever your device or screen size is.

The relaunch has caused some issues that we are currently working to address. We’re still trying to import all the old comments, the search page doesn’t work very well at the moment, and some of the old links aren’t working. Please bear with us these next few days as we sort out the glitches, and please share your thoughts and feedback with us too!

We’re looking forward to building a better Doha News and hope you’ll stick with us as we get there.

Thoughts?