Hello, world. Tour the daily online Monitor

It's Day One of our Web-only daily Monitor.

If you are a frequent visitor, please make yourself at home. If you haven't spent time on our website before, here's a quick tour:

The center column is where the top news stories go. In general, this spot features the Monitor's perspective on the Big Important Issues that the world is dealing with. We rank these stories generally in descending order, just as we used to do in print.

In the upper left, under the heading "Inside CSMonitor.com," are stories our editors are asking you to check out. Think of this as a core sample that we take of our site every hour or so. We cover a wide range of subjects -- from innovation to arts and culture, books to the environment -- but because these are not always the Big Important Issues they don't naturally rise to the top of the page.

So we find the interesting ones for you.

In the upper right, we feature topical blogs and photo essays. This is where you can follow the latest political news, track efforts to rebuild the economy, and take a unique county-by-county look at America from the ground up.

A few more highlights: Working down the page, the Commentary section features a new Monitor editorial and new columns each day. "Most viewed" is our way of knowing what you are reading. And the new "Making a Difference" site is a new section we've launched in which we introduce you to people who are working to change the world one small step at a time.

And this blog? It's new, too. It's a way the Monitor's editors will help you connect the dots in the news, give you the story behind the story, and respond to your questions, comments, and suggestions.

You can do a lot of fancy things on the Internet. As you can see, CSMonitor.com is not into fancy. We have podcasts, audio, and multimedia -- but our approach is straightforward, honest, and committed to bringing you the human dimension behind global events.

Questions? Comments? Enter them below. We'll respond.