Unlike rival title the Sunday Times, which has recruited a new web team for its standalone site launch scheduled for the spring, Observer.co.uk remains part of Guardian.co.uk, at http://observer.guardian.co.uk/.
"Observer content will continue to appear each week on The Observer's dedicated home page and throughout Guardian.co.uk's various sites," a Guardian News & Media spokesperson told Journalism.co.uk.
"Specifically for the launch there will be enhanced content on Observer.co.uk to guide readers through the changes," she said.
In November, it was announced that three of the print supplements would close, Observer Sport Monthly, Observer Music Monthly and Observer Woman. Earlier in the year, other parts of the paper were cut, including the TV listings guide - now to return with the relaunch - and Simon Caulkin's well-regarded management column.
As outlined by editor John Mulholland this week, the new format includes four weekly sections: news, sport, a review section and the Observer magazine, and once a month, Observer Food Monthly.
New online features include:
- 'How I wrote' music session feature with musicians; the first with Rufus Wainwright.
- The Observer conversation video: first with sports editor Brian Oliver asking football bloggers for their solutions for the financial woes of British football clubs.
"Caspar will be working with the guardian.co.uk team to create the best possible digital expression of Observer journalism, building on established musical successes such as Paul Morley's 'Showing Off' and the Word of Mouth blog, edited by Susan Smillie."
Despite the Observer's enhanced online offering, it still comes under the Guardian.co.uk management umbrella: director of digital content, Emily Bell and editor Janine Gibson, who "oversee all aspects of the company's output online and that hasn't changed."
"Their work will be coordinated with Caspar's to enhance Observer content both in the paper and online."
No 'great' publishing plan
Asked about plans for 'staging' online content, a new publishing tactic reported by Press Gazette earlier this week, the GNM spokesperson said that "there is no great plan which the company has decided on, and we are committed to open and engaged journalism, as outlined recently by Alan Rusbridger's Hugh Cudlipp lecture."
"We constantly review how we publish our content to the web to best reach new and core audiences in digital and print. With regard to 'staged' online publication we have made a specific arrangement to publish the Andrew Rawnsley extract a little later in the day. The news story will be published as usual.
"We have also talked about whether there are some other elements which may only be made available later on Sunday or later in the week."
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