Are more Capital Times on the way?

Six months ago, The Capital Times based in Madison, Wisc., became one of the first daily newspapers in the country to make the switch to online-only.

According to the history page of the publication's parent company, Capital Newspapers: "The company's most recent change - and one of its most important - took place on April 26, 2008, when The Capital Times published its last daily print edition and became one of the first American daily newspapers to go primarily online. The Capital Times now consists of three separate, interrelated products."

What are those three main products? While, there's the "main" one - the newspaper's Web site, captimes.com. There's "a new magazine-style print edition, The Cap Times" published every Wednesday. And there's a new "arts, entertainment and culture publication" published every Thursday.

How has the transition gone? Well, if looking at the company's Web site today is any indication, it seems fine. The content is current, it's fresh, and the site looks good.

2009 is just beyond the horizon. The State of the News Media reports at Journalism.org paint a grim picture for the future. There were many layoffs and cutbacks at newspapers this past year. No one should be surprised to see more experiments like the one at The Capital Times, especially as online journalism continues to develop.

Here's a good feature on The Capital Times' switch to Web-only back in February for those interested.