We’re listening to your feedback about our changes

We asked for your feedback – and we got it.

Tuesday’s debut of the newly reimagined print edition of The Modesto Bee was met with an enthusiastic response from readers with a variety of opinions, which is exactly what we expected.

I want all Bee readers to know that we’re listening to your feedback and working as hard as we can to enhance the reader experience. In a project as large and complex as The Bee’s redesign, it’s inevitable that unforeseen glitches will arise. I’m going to report back frequently in this space about what we’re working on and how we plan to make The Bee even better.

Here are two concerns raised from readers Tuesday, and my explanations:

Weather page

A number of Turlock-area readers called wondering why their fair city was no longer listed on the weather map. This is an omission that our weather provider, Weather Underground, is working to correct. Stanislaus County’s second-largest city will return to its rightful place on the map as soon as we can make it happen.

Another caller said he couldn’t find the air quality listings. This is still listed, but the format has changed. Each city on the weather map has a colored dot next to it representing the air quality for the day.

There also were a few other problems with the weather, including a repeated listing of California city temperatures. We hope to have this fixed soon, too.

Typography

“The type is too small,” more than one caller told me Tuesday morning. I explained that the type is similar in size to what was used before.

There’s actually an interesting story behind this. The typefaces in The Bee were drawn especially for McClatchy newspapers by Commercial Type, a type design firm. The designers worked to create a font that is easy to read in a newspaper format. I hope readers will grow to enjoy the type, which many of our focus group members found to be easy on the eyes.

More feedback?

A number of you reached out to say how much you like the changes. “The right things are in the right places, right down to the funnies and weather,” one reader wrote.

He continued: “The font size and density, action photos and great colors make The Bee look like a big-city newspaper.”

Please do not hesitate to reach out if you have any questions about the changes to The Bee. I’ll be back with another column when there’s more to share. You can submit feedback at new.modestobee.com or simply email me at jkieta@modbee.com.

This story was originally published May 12, 2015 at 4:54 PM with the headline "We’re listening to your feedback about our changes."