Big changes are just ahead for the print Observer.Next week, for the first time in our almost 44 year history, we will change our format, making the paper larger and more exciting, adding the capability of printing in full colour.Since the 1970s, the Observer has been printed on 11 x 17 inch sheets (like the one you are reading) on an AB Dick 360 press, the workhorse of the printing industry. It's a truly great press, easy enough to run, easy enough to fix, and economical to boot. But it is getting increasingly harder to repair, as parts become scarce, and it's not capable of printing in colour.So we have decided to make a big change.This paper is the last of the small Observers. Next week an era ends, when we make the switch. Your Observer will be printed on a fancy grade of newsprint, on sheets twice as large, with four pages each week in full colour. That will enable us to print colour photos (which will be great) and accept coloured advertising.Other changes include an updated, cleaner design, a section taking comments from our Facebook site and more photos, both black and white and colour.But the content of the paper will not change. Each week we'll be chock-full of the local stories we think you need to know, written as usual by our team of on-island reporters.The new Observer appears Thursday February 7. We're excited about the change. We hope you will be too.