RHOADES LESS TRAVELED:

Nothing like a good makeover.

Sparkling shoes.

A couple of top-of-the-line Italian shirts.

A couple of expensive-but-on-sale ties to go with those shirts.

Maybe a haircut. A new mustache.

A resolution or vow.

Come to think of it, it’s as much a rebirth as a makeover.

Well, newspapers, like human beings, need a rebirth every so often, and such is the case with the Daily Pilot.

On Sunday, you’re going to see a new and improved newspaper. Soon after, you’ll see a revamped website.

But first, the newspaper.

The last time the Pilot was redesigned was about two years ago.

The designers did a fine job and we’ve kept a lot of what was incorporated, and most of the content appearing on themed pages such as Calendar, Forum, Cityscapes, Public Safety, On the Water, Politics, etc.

But we’ve added some new content, as well.

Here is some of it:

?A much-needed — we felt — surfing page, featuring a surfing shot, a totally tubular columnist and a surf forecast. This page will appear in our Sports section on Fridays.

?A youth sports page, tied in closely with our latest launch: Game On OC (gameonoc.com). Here you will find highlights from AYSO, Little League, Pop Warner and more. This page will run Thursdays.

?A top blogs page teeming with colorful excerpts from our cadre of online bloggers, just in case you didn’t catch them on our website. Look for it on Sundays.

?A “.com” page featuring reader photos and other reader submissions to our website. In the industry, taking online content and repurposing it for the web is called reverse publishing. This is a prime example of that, and a prime time to sort of self-publish — as our community correspondents — on two different mediums. We also call this user-generated content.

Some in the news business are convinced that it’s the future of journalism, but we’ll have to wait and see. Check out the latest in reverse publishing and user-generated content on Wednesdays.

Other changes:

?Attractive, easy-to-read font types for our headlines.

?A1 teases to inside pages will no longer appear on the left rail of the page. Instead, they’ll appear as “skyboxes,” meaning in the masthead. As a result, they’ll be larger, bolder and more kinetic and, we think, do a better job of getting readers to turn the pages.

?A DailyPilot.com feature on A1 that lets you know the best and brightest material on the web, from poll questions to blogs to reader comments.

?A livelier Sports banner.

?A punched-up, colorful Happenings banner, which will appear on Fridays. In looking at the mock-ups, the color makes a big difference in a section focused on the arts, food and cultural gatherings. This is a colorful world that should be presented with pleasing, appropriate colors, just like in real life.

So that’s your sneak peek.

Look for our debut edition Sunday, and then Tuesday through Saturday. We’re excited about our rebirth and we hope you, our customers, will be, too.

And please, let me know what you think by e-mailing brady.rhoades@latimes.com or dailypilot@latimes.com.

Editor BRADY RHOADES may be reached at (714) 966-4607 or at brady.rhoades@latimes.com.