We feel like proud parents.

We love the new look of HamptonRoads.com and we are excited about the new features this baby has.

We're inclined to use words like "cutting edge" and "best in its class."

But, we're journalists and business people too, and we know HamptonRoads.com can't be successful if you don't share our enthusiasm.

You’ll find a full guide to all the new features and how to get the most out of them at this site. But here are just a few highlights:

 - A brighter, cleaner, wider page. Part of our primary goal was to provide a better user experience; the new page takes advantage of today's larger and higher resolution monitors. It also helps us present the information you want with less clutter.

 - A great new entertainment widget. The expandable “Entertainment Guides” accordion helps you more quickly access the area's most comprehensive guides to local events, restaurants, movies and attractions. Want to know what's going on in Hampton Roads today? Explore our guides.  

 - Tags and links. We haven't changed how you navigate the site a lot, but we have made improvements. For example, if you are reading a story about kumquats, there's a good chance we have provided a "tag". Click that tag and you will see all of the other stories we have written about kumquats. And we have made it a lot easier for you to share the stories you like with friends by providing easy links to social networking websites such as Facebook and Digg.

- More opportunities to contribute and participate. It’s easier than ever to comment on stories and blogs, submit photos and videos, submit calendar items, request a blog, request an email newsletter, vote in polls, and rate and review movies and restaurants.

- New story comment rules. For the majority of people who follow our user guidelines, comments will appear almost instantaneously. When someone breaks the rules, you will be able to report it and remove offending posts and posters from the comments you read.

- Personal profile pages. Finally, every registered user now has a "profile page." At launch, the page will highlight all of your recent comments. But we will be expanding this particular feature a lot in the future in our effort to build a real community.

- Easier access to classified listings for jobs, homes, deals and autos. Now you can search from the home page.

- More RSS feeds. You’ll find feeds for countless topics and blogs, so you can get the news whenever, wherever and however you want.

- Videos accessible right on the home page. We have "embedded" our exclusive videos, produced by HamptonRoads.tv and our partners at The Virginian-Pilot, on the homepage and in select stories. Now you just "click and play."

- Add the cool site map at the bottom of every page and it's never been easier to find, save and share the information that makes living easy – and fun – in Hampton Roads.

As fantastic as all of this is, you haven't seen anything yet. The new tools we are using to produce this site will allow us to add new content and features and improve your experience faster than ever before.

So, spend some time checking out the new arrival. Then start giving us the feedback that always makes us better. 

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