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We have unwrapped an updated look for the Home Page of globeandmail.com, the latest in a series of improvements intended to cement our position as a leading source for the best in online journalism and to help readers easily explore and enjoy the many layers of the site.

While by no means a radical departure, the fresh design is more open than our previous look and provides us with a more flexible template that allows the editors to change the look of the page quickly and easily depending on the nature of the day's news.

We have also carved out a spot high on the page to showcase our increasingly popular and important multimedia efforts. Here you will find the Day in Pictures along with a variety of video picks, interactives and more.

The Home Page design is based on the template we created for the launch of ReportonBusiness.com a month ago and matches the look on display in the new Globe Life section. Over the coming months, we're planning to roll it out across the site, but before we go much further we wanted to speak with you about the direction we are headed.

What do you think of the design? Do you have any questions about our increased use of video? Is there anything you would like us to do more of, or less of? Where have we fallen short?

globeandmail.com editor Angus Frame was online earlier today to talk about the direction of the site, recent changes and pretty much anything else you want to talk about. Your questions and Mr. Frame's answers appear at the bottom of this page.

Further questions can be submitted later for both Mr. Frame and globeandmail.com's executive editor, Jim Sheppard, to address regularly as part of our continuing effort to maintain a lively and interactive relationship with our readers.

Mr. Frame has been with The Globe and Mail since 1996 in various capacities in the news and Report on Business sections. He moved to globeandmail.com in 2000 as deputy editor in charge of business coverage and became the site's editor in the fall of 2001.

He has an honours BA in political science and a journalism degree from Ryerson University. He lives in Toronto's High Park neighbourhood with his wife, two daughters and dog.

Editor's Note: globeandmail.com editors will read and allow or reject each question/comment. Comments/questions may be edited for length or clarity. HTML is not allowed. We will not publish questions/comments that include personal attacks on Globe journalists or other participants in these discussions, that make false or unsubstantiated allegations, that purport to quote people or reports where the purported quote or fact cannot be easily verified, or questions/comments that include vulgar language or libellous statements. Preference will be given to readers who submit questions/comments using their full name and home town, rather than a pseudonym.

Jim Sheppard, Executive Editor, globeandmail.com: Welcome, Angus, and thanks for coming online today to take questions from our readers. Let me start by asking this: What have been the most common themes in terms of reaction to the new look of our Home Page?

Angus Frame, Editor, globeandmail.com: Hi, Jim. It's always a pleasure to talk with readers.

So far, the reaction to the redesign has been mainly positive. A number of readers have declared it better than our previous approach with a particular fondness for the more open approach to the page.

The negative responses have focused primarliy on whether we are using an appropriate amount of white space on the page and whether there is too much scrolling required to find stories.

As you know, this design grew out of the ReportonBusiness.com project and is firmly rooted in the belief that we need to give our online readers an open and accessible page that takes full advantage of the screen real estate available to us.

Brian, St. John's, Nfld.: I recall the previous call for comments that came along with a [2006] globeandmail.com site redesign. As you might remember, a plurality of the feedback pretty much declared it awful.

This design, however, is what professional Web development is about. A standards-compliant site, an upper navigation bar that works consistently and correctly, and a generally pleasant look. It is obvious a stylistic nod has been given to The New York Times, and all for the better. Those who switched their default Web page are likely gone forever. But it is nice to know The Globe is once again pleasant to look upon.

It's a shame that the Opinions Section is still hidden behind a pay barrier, but relatively obscurity is often the price of paying the bills. Perhaps someday a better model will present itself. Will it?

Angus Frame: Hi, Brian. I do indeed remember the almost 700 comments that accompanied the editor's note I wrote for the February 2006 redesign.

I think we learned a lot from that experience — we learned to listen to readers and equally important (though hidden behind the scenes) we implemented software that allowed us to see what links on the site were popular and which areas of the site were dead zones.

So, we approached this design armed with mountains of anecdotal feedback from readers and real quantitative information on how readers actually use the site — which I think helped us make some smart decsions this time.

I don't claim it's perfect, but I do think we have taken a step in the right direction.

You raise an interesting and always hot topic with your query about the Opinions Section and the Globe Insider pay wall.

It is something we continue to discuss here. We agree that the content from the Globe's leading columnists and the OpEd pieces that we run daily are a unique strength of The Globe and Mail. Nobody else in this country offers the range of intelligent debate from all sides of the poiltical spectrum and we are trying to decide how best to offer it to online readers.

We want to continue doing great journalism in the digital age and we want to continue to thrive as a business, a news organization, in the 21st century.

So, we continue to learn the best approachs to some of the unique puzzles that exist in the online world. I guess the looming question is: How? Answering that question is something we're working on right now.

S.R., British Columbia: As someone who dabbles in Web design, I have to say I like the site.

I was critical of the last redesign. But this one is attempting to bring some of older features back while giving the reader lots of choice.

White space is always an issue when you have so many kinds and resolutions of monitors and screen sizes. It is hard to design something that looks as good on a 15-inch screen as on a 19- or 21-inch screen — and most computer users are migrating to 17- and 19-inch screens. Designing for 1024x768 is becoming standard.

But it is impossible to please everyone in Web design because there are so many possible screen and font combinations that computer users have on their systems. That is the challenge, isn't it?

Angus Frame: Hi, S.R. I think we all like to dabble in Web design a bit, or at least fiddle around and think about the best way for websites to work. It is one of the greatest joys and greatest headaches here at globeandmail.com.

You make a good point about monitor resoultions and the variety of options out there — it's a far cry from the newspaper where we know exactly what the front page will look like for everyone. No one ever picks up the paper and complains that it doesn't work properly with their browser.

So we have tried to build something that works for the vast majority of our readers. We know most of you are at 1024 or above, we know the most popular browsers and we've tried to create a site that works for everyone while continuing to take advantage of new technologies and improvements.

We know each reader will have their own personal setting and their own preference for how to view the site and so we are trying to create a site that works well for as many people as possible.

Cheryl Nelson, Minneapolis, Minn., U.S.A.: Nice redesign. But I hate that I now have to scroll halfway down the page to find the news I really want — the national and international sections. Bizarrely, they have been placed below the day's online Q and A, and the Report on Business. I think national/international news is more important and should be more prominent.

Here's another issue that has badgered every site redesign: Why is it that after reaching the page bottom of a story/discussion, users are forced to scroll back up to the top to return/click to the home page or section page? Couldn't you consider duplicating the contents menu at the bottom?

Angus Frame: Hi, Cheryl. Typically, the top National and International stories of the day are front and centre on the Home Page.

Right now, for example, [2 p.m. EDT on Wednesday] we are leading with the latest news from the Conrad Black trial (written by Globe reporter Paul Waldie, who has been doing an outstanding job in Chicago and bends over backwards to keep the online reader informed with all the latest developments from the court) and then a fresh piece from The Globe's Paul Koring and Murray Campbell who are in Afghanistan with the Prime Minister and the troops.

Both of these stories manage to be National and International in tone and they are the most prominent items on the page [although if you are reading this later than 2 p.m. EDT Wednesday, you'll probably see different stories at the top of the Home Page].

And, of course, you can easily navigate to either the World or the National sections of the site from our main, horizontal navigation bar — something that would mean no scrolling.

Your point about adding navigation to the footer of each page is an interesting one that we will explore.

Bill Oehler, Regina: (1) Why do you continue to have a "home page" button on the home page? All usability literature decries such a redundancy as confusing to less knowledgeable users.

(2) Why do you refuse to use "breadcrumbs" as a navigation aid? You guessed it, the usability literature lists this as highly desirable and useful by the majority of users.

I appreciate your efforts. Change is a reality. But are you basing your changes on usability studies that you conduct on your efforts or are they based on simple issues of layout and expediency agreed upon by a committee?

Angus Frame: Hi, Bill. (1) The "home" button is part of our universal navigation and it is in the same place on every single page of the site. We did this to make the site easier to use and to make it possible to return to the home page with a single click from any part of the site. This approach has been adopted by countless other major sites including the BBC, CNN and The New York Times.

(2) As for breadcrumbs, we don't use them because I think there are smarter and more intuitive ways to allow readers to get their bearings on the site. And while they are popular with a significant number of Web readers and designers, the majority of regular news junkies do not use them so we have tried to build some breadcrumb thinking into our presentation without going over the top. For example, if you visit a page in the new ReportonBusiness.com you will see some clear indications telling you where you are but we don't use the traditional breadcrumb approach.

Our changes are based on a combination of things — usability studies, our analysis of reader bahaviour on the site, anecdotal feedback and a little dose of our own editorial instincts.

Vils DiSanto, Richmond Hill, Ont.: Why do you insist on doing partial upgrades to the design? Now when I click on the "national" subsection, it reverts to the previous design. Why not completely overhaul the entire website in one go? To me, it makes no sense that ROB was the first to receive this treatment, followed by the front page.

Angus Frame: Hi, Vils. We really felt it was necessary to launch the new ReportonBusiness.com page at the same time that the print edition was redesigned in mid-April and in order to accomplish that we simply could not overhaul the entire site at once.

But we like the direction of the ReportonBusiness.com design and the response has been positive. So we are rolling it our across the entire site in stages.

We started with the new Life section. Then, last week, we changed our "Print Edition " section. Yesterday, we changed the Home Page and next week we intend to switchover our Technology section.

The rolling redesign may not be ideal, but I'd rather take a piecemeal approach than allow the project to get so huge that we never deliver changes that will help our readers. We did change our navigation across the entire site in a single stroke in order to keep the globeandmail.com experience fairly consistent.

Arthur P.: I find it too slow and heavy now. It takes several seconds to fully bring up new pages. Typing in the comment box is quite slow as well.

I'm on a high-speed DSL connection and don't have this problem on other websites I frequent.

Angus Frame: Hi, Arthur. That's a constant challenge.

The Home Page is a bit heavier than I would like right now and our developers are very aware that some behind-the-scenes changes will need to be made to speed things up — without taking anything away from the design or functionality of the site. You will see regular perfromance improvements in the days, weeks and months to come.

John Finlay, Walkerton, Ont.: Love the editor's comment at the end of the piece which, I suppose, describes a fully-moderated discussion.

I grow increasingly perplexed by the amount of vitriol, racism, and foolishness used in other response forums (fora?) on this site. I think you ought to fully moderate much more often and thereby raise the tone of discussions.

I choose to read The Globe precisely because it's not The Sun. There are far too many comments posted by obvious pseudonyms which blur any line separating the two.

Angus Frame: Hi, John. There are often discussions in the comments area of the site that get a wee bit out of control. In these cases, a number of safeguards kick in — the most valuable coming from the community of readers who can flag inappropriate comments so that an editor can review the contentious remark and decide whether to leave the remark on the site.

Editors also will set a discussion to "fully moderated" or even close comments to keep the discourse somewhat civil.

I continue to believe in creating an opportunity for readers to respond to The Globe's journalism and to one another and I remain committed to keeping this dialogue as open as possible.

But some improvements are required (and are being worked on).

Tim Noble: I like it. It's cleaner. The font size is controllable, which is cool.

My only complaint: It looks terrible on a Crackberry. Are there any plans to make it Crackberry-friendly?

Angus Frame: Hi, Tim. A short answer to a short question: Yes.

Jim Sheppard: Thanks, again, Angus. I'm sure our readers appreciated your explanations. Any last thoughts?

Angus Frame: Thanks, Jim, and everyone.

As I have tried to stress, the development of globeandmail.com is an evolution that involves a lot of people, including the readers of the site.

So, we will be keeping this discussion open indefinitely. Keep your questions coming and we'll keep answering — in the comments area where your comments are being posted.

Just don't ask me why the site doesn't look right on your Commodore 64 (a great machine, but I digress . . . )