Readers of The Greeneville Sun will be seeing a slightly new look in their hometown newspaper beginning on Tuesday.

We've been calling the change "a fresh look for an old friend" in recent advertisements in the newspaper that you might have already seen.

"Many members of the Sun staff in various departments have been working for a year on considering some updating and improvement steps in the physical appearance of the paper," said Editor John M. Jones Jr.

"The modifications that we decided on through that process will be unveiled on Tuesday."

He continued, "We have been working with Edward Henninger, of South Carolina, a very experienced newspaperman himself as well as one of the best known and most respected design specialists in the newspaper field.

"Mr. Henninger has worked with many community newspapers as well as those of other sizes," Jones said, "and he has been a good partner for us in this year-long project.

"It was not -- and is not -- our goal to make dramatic changes in the familiar 'look' and 'feel' of the paper. Instead, we were striving to bring to the Sun a fresher, more updated, and more attractive appearance in several ways, and we hope our readers and advertisers will feel that we have achieved what we set out to do.

"In any case, we're interested in knowing what they think!"

Jones added that "It's important to emphasize that all of the features and sections readers enjoy now will continue to be found in their same familiar places in the newspaper. Nothing has been dropped or even put in a new location."

Obituaries, for instance, will continue to be located in the familiar place, usually A-6, and a list of the obituaries will continue to be found on the front page.

A couple of the sections will have new names, though.

For instance, "Editorial" will now be called "Opinion," a clearer statement of the theme of that page, and the "Religion" section will now be titled "Faith."

In addition, some readers will probably notice that headlines look a bit different. That's because we've changed some typefaces and fonts to make them more readable and pleasing to the eye.

Similarly, you will notice a new look to the Sun's nameplate at the top of the front page.

In keeping with Greeneville's historic heritage, and the fact that The Greeneville Sun's own roots go back to 1879, our new nameplate conveys the feel of a more historic "Greeneville."

"To summarize," Jones said, "our goal is to give you news, plus plenty of other interesting, useful and enjoyable information, plus many advertising messages, and do it in an overall 'package' that is both attractive to the eye and easy to use."

At the same time that the design modifications take effect, on Tuesday, the newspaper's width will change and become a little less wide.

The length of the page will remain the same.

This is a separate step from the design changes, but the Sun, after much research and discussion, decided that this was a logical and appropriate time to make the modification in page width also.

As many readers and advertisers will know already, the somewhat narrower page is quickly becoming the standard in the newspaper industry.

In various places where it is now used, a number of readers find that they prefer the slightly narrower page size, and feel that it is easier to handle.

As with the other changes, we'll be interested to hear what you think!