For months, many readers have contacted me asking about The View Web sites, all to be given the same answer -- the sites are in the process of being updated, and should be up and running soon.

I'm sure as the weeks dragged on into months, many readers who contacted me believed I was just making that up. And I understand your frustration at not being able to read our stories online, or share them with friends and family in far-off places.

Which makes me all the happier to be able to report to you all that, in fact, The View Web sites are up and running. The process to get to this point has been slow, I know, for those of you who have been waiting for it to happen. But I'm excited to be able to share with you the results of several months of work and collaboration.

You're going to have to type in a new web address for the time being, though. No longer will The View be found at its old online location. Instead, The View papers have been merged online with other the Howard County Patuxent Publishing papers -- The Howard County Times and the Columbia Flier. By typing www.explorehoward.com into your Internet browser, you'll be able to get all your Howard County news in one location. Whether you're specifically looking for View stories, or looking for what's going on in the county in general, you'll be able to find it all in spot. Eventually, you will be able to find everything from The View both on Explore Howard and www.theviewnewspapers.com.

To get to The View stories specifically, take note -- by clicking on "publications" on the top navigation bar, you can choose to be taken to the specific paper in which you are interested. You'll also be able to e-mail stories to friends and family, check out what's going on in your neighborhood and take a look at a community events calendar.

We're still fine-tuning the site and in the coming weeks you should notice more interactive features, including blogs and bulletin boards. We hope you will use Explore Howard as your guide to the county, and come to rely on it as we hope you rely on us -- as your source for information on what's going on close to home.

Let me know what you think. And, as always, if you've got a story you think you should be telling, give me a call at 410-480-0816 or e-mail me at ssarino@theviewnewspapers.com. I look forward to hearing from you.

-- Shannon Baylis Sarino, editor

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