Or so the old adage goes. And you are seeing some changes today in YOUR Valley Courier.

No. 1, the size of the paper is slightly smaller; each page is one inch narrower to be exact. This was necessary as a cost saving measure as many other newspapers have done before us. Savings will be realized on the newsprint itself as well as ever-increasing postage with less weight.

Prior to reading this you probably noticed a major redesign of the front page as we attempt to give you a cleaner product that hopefully is easier to read. Two advertising spots have also been opened up as we hope to give our local businesses an opportunity to draw more “eye balls.”

A slight change has also been made to our classified/public notice pages, and more inside adjustments are coming in the weeks ahead.

Another major change came internally in recent weeks as we attempt to keep up with the latest in printing technology with a move towards “computer to plate” or CTP. This eliminated a step in our printing process where previously the pages were sent to a negative producing imagesetter and the negatives were then used to create the plate that goes on the press.

This $50,000 investment became a necessity as the price of film and chemistry to develop the film into negatives skyrocketed largely due to the film’s silver base and tariffs. The good news is, the equipment should pay for itself within two years.

The CTP process should eventually improve our print quality, especially with photographs and other graphics. We’re not seeing that improvement yet on a daily basis because we’re still tweaking the settings for the plate processor.

Please bear with us as we continually strive to bring you the best in print and digital information.