Welcome to the new msnbc.com. We are thrilled to have you wake up Monday morning to the new look and functionality that we've spent more than a year working on. We rolled out over the weekend.
Here is a quick guide to favorites and new features:
Local news and weather
Directly below the tabbed box is a slice of the home page devoted to your local report. This is much more prominent placement than its former spot in a box low on the right side of the page. We knew this content was hugely important to you, and more proof of that came over the weekend while it was still under construction. Sorry for the delay! If you already had personalized, don't worry -- we didn't forget you. If you had not set preferences, you'll see an invitation to enter your ZIP code.
Stocks, sports scores, horoscope, lottery
Of course, you still can keep your portfolio and sports scores personalized. We've retained your settings. On the home page, click on the tab that says "My news." Your stocks and sports are there, as well as a second opportunity to personalize weather (many of us like to keep an eye on the weather in our hometowns, our parents' cities, etc.), and lottery and horoscope. You can use the "pin this" option on that tab, and it will be open to that content each time you visit.
Games and comics
You can find them as you always have. There are links in several places: On the home page at the bottom of the news menu, there are shortcuts. Also, in the left-hand news menu of the home page, if you click on Entertainment you will find links. Same thing if you click Community. You can also click to the Entertainment front and find them in that news menu. Soon, on the Entertainment section front there will be links in the tabbed box.
Section names
We have re-organized the site to make it more logical. We have named sections simply what they are, rather than come up with cute names, in an effort to be as clear as possible. So, Peculiar Postings is now Weird news. Also, it's important that msnbc.com content be accessible by our own site search, as well as other search engines, and this helps in that area too.
The Week in Pictures/slide shows
We have named our photojournalism section "Photos." You'll find that under "Browse" in the left-hand news menu. In that section, you'll find all of your favorite slide shows and other photo features. You can also look at a selection of slide shows in the "Photos" tab in the tabbed box on the home page.
Community
This is a new section for us and gives you a place to get involved with the community on Newsvine.com, the community-driven news site that is now a part of the msnbc.com family. Here, you'll also find links to blogs (including "Clicked," which many of you have been looking for), message boards and FirstPerson, where you can upload your images and video so your report can be a part of every breaking story. The asked-for Most Popular page can also be found here.
Customization options
On every section front you'll see tabbed boxes that allow you to use the "pin this" feature to have that window open each time you return to the page. Farther down the page, you can use the arrows to put the topical sections in your preferred order, and you can set them to display the amount of content you prefer. Those settings will stay with you as well.
Hotmail
Many of you have asked where the button to your Hotmail account is. It's a link at the top right of the page, near the Search box, called "Mail." Its new name, Windows Live Mail, was just too long to fit in the space.
