FROM old York to new York in seconds - courtesy of cyberspace.

The Evening Press's award-winning website, This Is York, has just been relaunched with a new, brighter look, new features, and it is easier than ever to find your way around the host of information, news and pictures.

The new design is cleaner, fresher and simpler, with new navigation, signposting visitors quickly and easily to the sections they wish to browse.

And the website is now ready to embrace the next generation of Internet technology for browsing on digital television, on the miniature receivers, "palm pilots" and on mobile phones.

It is all great news for visitors to www.thisisyork.co.uk from York and North Yorkshire or from across the world.

For it is the huge diversity of audience which helps make This Is York a winner. Unlike the websites provided by most newspapers, it represents an internationally-acclaimed tourist city.

It has to provide essential information and news for people all over the world - or around Britain or the North - who may be thinking of a visit to York. It has to provide news, sport, information and entertainment for local people who want to know what is happening where and when, who are on the look-out for jobs, cars or classified adverts. And it succeeds in doing all that.

The mix has to be carefully balanced to cater for a split audience: For the four million tourists who visit York each year, it offers information on how to get to the city, where to stay, eat and drink, and what its many attractions have to offer.

For the people of our region, it provides local and national news and services that are currently available to readers of the Evening Press, the area's leading news provider.

And since it was first launched only two years ago, the website has retained the flexibility to evolve and adapt as it grows and technology moves forward at the speed of light.

All these characteristics have made the site - with its 270,000 page 'hits' every month - a must for Internet surfers around the world and for the local businesses who have found a shop window to the local market place and the rest of the planet.

More than 60 per cent of the people who browse www.thisisyork.co.uk are from this country. The rest are from all corners of the globe, mainly the United States, Australia and Canada.

As the site has developed with more and more vital sections of local information, business services and a national database of such as jobs and cars for sale, the original navigation of the site was becoming unmanageable.

Our redesign incorporates a new, simpler navigation which points visitors quickly to where they want to be. It is also in line with all other This Is... sites within Newsquest, England's biggest newspaper group, which offers similar information and services in other regions through easy links.

Through This Is York, Internet surfers can link to the classified ads of newspapers all over the country via the free Fish For... service. And the negotiating power of the Newsquest group means that This Is York will be among the limited number of sites available through digital TV Internet access, as well as an agreement with Schoolsnet which offers a two-way provision of information: information on local schools and education with links to different schools; and the facility to access information on schools (including league tables) around Britain.

And the development of our website does not end there. Local news and sport is now updated three times a day, starting at 9am. Breaking news stories - and pictures - are uploaded onto the site as they happen.

We are also investing in Community Pages, where local organisations have control over their own pages to promote their activities - for free. We have a dedicated staff working on designing and setting up these pages and contacting the non-profit making organisations who wish to come on board. They will be able to communicate with members or other interested people through chat rooms and bulletin boards.

York & County Press managing director Daphne Ellis said: "Our site is now synonymous with York. If you want to know anything about the city, you will find it at This Is York."

GET CONNECTED AT THE FAIR

THE Evening Press's very first Computer & Internet Fair is being staged at the University of York on Monday.

Entry is absolutely free, and free use of an Internet caf is just one of the attractions the day, sponsored by Compupack, holds.

The fair - between 10am and 4.30pm - takes place in the University's Exhibition Centre, on Goodricke Way, off Heslington Lane. Car parks F and G are the ones to head for.

Computers and the Internet are an important part of the business at York & County Press, and the team behind the This Is York website has picked up several awards. The team will be on hand at the fair, not least because it represents the official launch of the redesigned This Is York site, www.thisisyork.co.uk

There'll be something for everybody, whether you are an Internet novice or a seasoned surfer. There will be masses of advice available on all aspects of computers as well as the net. Similarly, the fair is the place to come if you're running a business and seeking to expand your services, or just looking to get more out of the services that others are offering.

Those taking stands include web page designers, software and hardware specialists, training providers, the Evening Press Digital Media Team and a lot more besides. There will be seminars on a variety of subjects, ranging from explaining what e-commerce is all about to descriptions of the intricacies of circuit boards.

Also on offer will be prizes in several competitions, and attractions specially aimed at the younger visitor, including games and CD-Roms.

One special prize will be a BT Cellnet mobile Internet phone, which allows you to surf the worldwide web without a computer. With the pay as you go phone, courtesy of Tesco, you can talk, send or receive email or access the Internet at any time.