My column on the front page last Sunday drew a few questions about The Bee's new format, which you'll see beginning Tuesday.

I'll answer those and welcome others:

Will you eliminate the TV guide?

No. The weekly OnTV guide will continue in the Sunday newspaper.

How about daily TV listings?

Those will continue as part of the Fun & Games portion of Living Here, the renamed and reorganized daily lifestyle section.

Please don't get rid of travel coverage!

We won't. Travel coverage will move into the new Explore arts and travel section on Sundays.

Will the type get smaller?

No, the type will remain the same size. The width of the page will be reduced by an inch.

One exception is paid obituaries, which will increase in type size. The obituaries will be called "Remembrances" (replacing "Death Notices") and will continue to appear in our local news section, now called Our Region.

The paid notices will move to a standard six-column format (instead of the narrower format used now) to make them easier to read.

What are the typefaces?

Our new body type is called Miller Daily; headline faces are Miller Headline (for the light face) and Benton Sans (for bold headlines). Our small type (sports stats, stocks, weather and so forth) is Poynter Agate Zero. All of these faces won high marks for read-ability from both designers and readers (who weighed in via the Bee's Press Club).

These are a lot of changes. How will I find everything?

Look for informational ads in today's paper and through the week. We'll also publish a "Guide to the New Bee," on page A2, and an online introduction at sacbee.com.

Why is my paper two different sizes?

OK, nobody asked this, but here's the answer. For a couple or three days, while we modify our presses, some papers might have paper of different widths. This won't last long.

If you've missed my columns in recent weeks detailing and explaining changes, find them at sacbee.com/fromtheeditor.

We're pleased with the look of the redesigned Bee, and we've heard compliments from outsiders who have seen it.

Readers will judge the paper, though, by what we put in it: What we report and how well we inform our readers through words, photographs and graphics.

We have some ambitious coverage in the works.

Next Sunday, reporter Tom Knudson kicks off a new series called "Sierra Warming," documenting ways in which rising temperatures are changing our mountains.

The series will run occasionally for several months and will draw on scientific study and real-life experiences among people who live, work and study in the Sierra.

Knudson, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his 1991 Bee series "Sierra in Peril," will help develop an online component for the series that will include a blog, video and other elements, including invitations for readers to share knowledge.

In the coming weeks we'll dig below the surface of the tough economic times in another occasional series, "The Downturn," that will run in news and features sections.

And of course there's the great unsolved California budget mess: A gaping deficit and no plan yet for fixing it.

It'll take more than a newspaper redesign to find answers on that one. But look for meaty coverage in the weeks ahead, including an upcoming California Forum piece drawing on ideas from around the community.

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