We've been delighted by how many readers have written or called to comment on The Bee's redesign.

A newspaper needs readers who care what gets covered and how the paper looks and feels.

So we've welcomed all the responses, the roses and the stones alike.

Yes, one of our online commenters called me a hillbilly (I'm from Hawaii, and lived for 25 years in the relative flatlands of central North Carolina). And a reader who e-mailed his criticism of the new format threw in his opinion that I need a new "hairdo," though he didn't say how much he'd charge.

Generally, though, the complaints reflect what people want in their newspaper and, in many cases, how they want it to represent this place.

Some see the new format as sophisticated, "big-city," and so forth.

Others described it as small-town, "bush-league" (led by the aforementioned user of the term "hillbilly".)

Aside from those impressions, specific comments will help us adjust our new design and improve The Bee going forward.

Response has come in to our customer-service representatives, who share it with people in news and elsewhere, and directly to me, our publisher and several editors.

We've published some letters to the editor commenting on the changes, and public editor Armando Acuña is evaluating the responses in his role as reader advocate.

The outpouring is a strong life sign for The Bee's generations-old connection with readers. While responses came from opposite poles - "I LOVE IT!" in one e-mail, and in another, "A DISASTER!" - they expressed passion, which is far preferable to apathy.

So with the new print format not yet a week old, I'm back to ask for suggestions and participation from readers on another redesign.

This time, the focus is sacbee.com, our main Web site.

Less than three years ago, sacbee.com was redesigned to great acclaim for its appearance and features, including a home page that readers could customize.

A couple of Internet lifetimes later, sacbee.com is due for an overhaul.

Just as we focused our print redesign on building a good newspaper, playing to the strengths of that medium, our goal with the Web redesign is to excel online.

We carry the same values and mission into Web journalism that we follow for print, but each medium can do things the other can't.

The Web is immediate and immediately connective. We've steadily increased the amount of news we're breaking online and the amount of original reporting we're producing there through news reports and blog posts.

We're just getting going, though, and we want to use reader ideas through the redesign and beyond as an ongoing resource.

E-mail your suggestions to me or Ken Chavez, assistant managing editor. He's at kchavez@sacbee.com.

Along with general comments, we're seeking thoughts on a few questions.

• Do you go to sacbee.com to scan for the latest news, or to look for specific things?

• What do you like best or use most?

• What do you go elsewhere to find, and why?

Redesigns build frameworks for our publications. They are vehicles for communication.

The Bee's heart doesn't rest in a design format or search box. Our life source is our bond to our community and to the needs, interests and passions of people who turn to us for connection.

We look forward to hearing what you think.

Reach The Bee's editor, Melanie Sill, at (916) 321-1002.