MIDDLESBORO — With a new year just around the corner, many of us are making New Year’s resolutions to change something about ourselves — maybe to diet, get more exercise, or spend less money.

The Middlesboro Daily News (MDN) has a headstart on an 09’ resolution and is kicking the new year off in style. Starting today, you can visit the new-and-improved MDN website and check out some cool new features.

First, you’ll notice a few cosmetic changes, like a new banner design and layout. But the content hasn’t changed. You can still check your local weather tracker, stock update, read the top news stories, sports section, or read an opinion article all with a quick click.

The biggest change to the site is the registration requirement. To comment on an article, tweak your My Content section, or post an event or photo, visitors have to create a free account. To get one, go the upper right-hand corner, click “Sign In,” then choose to create a free account. Type in your screen name (the name you want to show up after you leave a pleasant comment), full name, location, and a valid e-mail address and you’re good-to-go.

After you’ve been approved, you can now get the most out of the new website and post comments to your heart’s content.

A few other interesting additions are the new bookmark features — you can now bookmark your favorite articles and have them show up on highly-trafficked sites like Facebook or Digg. It’s a way for you to turn a home-spun story into a national headline!

You can also access the new My Content section. One of the features in it allows you to tag articles with a keyword about topics you find interesting, and then be notified when that article is posted on the site. For instance, if you are interested in dogs, you could create a “dog” tag. From then on, you would be notified whenever a story about a dog is posted. It’s an easy way to customize your local news.

As always, users can submit letters to the editor via the site to be published in the print version of MDN. Also, visitors can submit events into an online community calendar so you’ll always know what’s going on in your community. You can also write your own blog, submit pictures, or e-mail an article to a friend.

While you consider your New Year’s resolution, check out ours at www.middlesborodailynews.com.

Stephen Woodward is a Staff Writer for the Daily News. He may be contacted at swoodward@middlesborodailynews.com.