Improvements to your site

A message from BBC News Online's Executive Editor, Mike Smartt

As we at BBC News approach our second birthday online, we are preparing some important changes to the site.

After all, we've grown beyond all recognition since November 1997. We now publish several hundred stories every day and our archive has grown to many hundreds of thousands of items.

Helping you find exactly what you want on BBC News Online, when you want it, is a priority for us.

So, after studying what you say to us in your constant stream of emails and as a result of a full programme of user testing, we are currently putting the finishing touches to improvements designed to help you navigate about this huge site more effectively and find more of our award-winning content.

But don't worry, the essence of our design - simplicity and ease of use - will remain.

To get ready for the switch over, we are currently going through a technical upgrade which is causing some problems to our publishing process. Our technical team are literally working around the clock to fix these glitches.

During this period we will, of course, continue to update the site every minute of every day as usual with all the important developments in the UK and world-wide.

Normal service, as they say in more traditional media, will be resumed as soon as possible.