Still independent

Today is the first day of The Independent's new life as a compact newspaper. Many will understandably shed a tear at the passing of the broadsheet, hailed at its launch for its elegant, restrained and very "modern" appearance - a look that was widely copied. For the past seven months, you, the readers, have been able to choose: broadsheet or compact? Your verdict has been conclusive. Whether it is the ease with which the shorter-armed can open the paper on a crowded train, the inviting display of a headline on the smaller page, or the sheer convenience of the format for busy people, The Independent has banished the notions that quality necessarily comes as a broadsheet and that tabloid size means tabloid values. The compact is the shape of the future.

Today is the first day of The Independent's new life as a compact newspaper. Many will understandably shed a tear at the passing of the broadsheet, hailed at its launch for its elegant, restrained and very "modern" appearance - a look that was widely copied. For the past seven months, you, the readers, have been able to choose: broadsheet or compact? Your verdict has been conclusive. Whether it is the ease with which the shorter-armed can open the paper on a crowded train, the inviting display of a headline on the smaller page, or the sheer convenience of the format for busy people, The Independent has banished the notions that quality necessarily comes as a broadsheet and that tabloid size means tabloid values. The compact is the shape of the future.