It's a new day for The Daily

Today, Statistics Canada unveils a new look for The Daily.

It is not the first makeover in the 73-year history of StatCan's official release publication, but it is among the most dramatic.

What's different?

The new Daily looks a lot more like a product of the mobile age—more dynamic, easier to understand and simpler to use.

The purpose of these changes is not only to refresh the look of The Daily but, more fundamentally, to make it more usable, says Gabrielle Beaudoin, Director General of Communications. A journey that used to involve clicking through several webpages—for instance, to find the release schedule for a particular indicator—has been condensed into a single button. The new icons that accompany the links make the user experience more intuitive.

The best parts?

Instant indicators—Need to know the inflation rate? Or, how the job market is faring? Find out right away with the help of our new statistics indicators, prominently displayed so you don't need to look far for the information.

Next releases—Want to know when new sawmill data will be available? Finding when data are next released just got easier! Our release schedule allows you to check out the past and future release dates of StatCan data.

Numbers galore—Charts now include data points so it is easy to grab the data. As well, users are able to convert Daily charts or tables to a simple Excel spreadsheet without any fuss. Tables are clean and ready for use.

Related info—Want to go straight to the data? You can now access data sets without having to scroll down or wade through text. The new page also features the titles of each data set, allowing you to quickly find the one you want.

Themed pictures—Looking for hog data? Travel? Construction? We've added pictures to make it easier to help navigate through our data to find what you are looking for.

The new Daily is also scalable to your mobile, laptop or desktop. The mobile Daily will be retired because whatever device you're using, you'll be able to browse The Daily.

“The developers took features of the mobile site and used it as a prototype for the main site. They met the challenge of transforming an HTML presentation into something that is much more dynamic,” Ms. Beaudoin says. “Whatever you're looking for is probably available within one or two clicks.”

What's next?

As further evidence that change is afoot at StatCan, the agency's new website is scheduled to be launched next spring. Like the newly designed Daily, the updated website will add more functionality and allow users to access data at various levels of complexity.

“The design ties nicely with big picture changes planned for the StatCan website so, overall, it is a major step forward,” Ms. Beaudoin says.

Meanwhile, The Daily, itself, will feature more analysis and more information. For instance, trend lines will soon be added to some key economic indicators so users can observe longer term trends.

“Readers have been telling us that they would like more analysis and more graphic information. We will be responding to those requests by making our statistics more and more web-friendly and accessible,” Ms. Beaudoin says.

While the transformation will change the look, the purpose of The Daily remains the same. The publication gives all Canadians equal access to official statistics about their country each day. It will continue to be the main source of new information from StatCan, with the latest releases published online every morning.

What the new design will do is to allow The Daily to deliver its content more efficiently, and with a little extra flair.