The new 5 live web site is almost ready

5 live's new website is now in the final phase of testing, ahead of launch next week, and we're excited about what we've got in store for you. We've been working hard with the agency Good Technology, to build a vibrant online home for the network and we're almost there.

I wanted to give you a sneak preview of the homepage and explain a few of the changes that you'll see when it goes live. The first thing you'll notice is that the look and feel will be bigger, bolder and more vibrant. We want to showcase the depth and variety of content that 5 live produces, 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week and make it easily accessible.

The annnotated example details how you can expect areas of the homepage to change through the day. You'll also notice three sections with associated colours: News (categorised by a red theme), Sport (in green) and Life (in blue). The colours are used on links and in design to direct you, visually, to the type of content you might be interested in.

You may be wondering about the title Life too. All of our content that isn't strictly news or sport, and certainly not just entertainment, now has a home. So, expect to find the in-depth and emotive interviews, discussions on books, the popular Mark Kermode film reviews and much more, accessible in Life.

One of the key ambitions for the relaunch was to reflect the 'live' nature of the network online. So, you'll see regularly-updating text in the on-air bar, informing you of what's on-air now and what's coming up next. It's the same text that scrolls across a DAB digital radio screen. Additionally, we wanted to show 5 live's close relationship with the audience online. We're sent a huge volume of texts, emails and - increasingly - messages through social media sites, not all of which, due to time restrictions, can be read out on air. This can be frustrating for someone eager for their point to be heard. So to address this issue, we'll be launching '5 live Now' shortly after the initial launch of the new site. 5 live Now will pull together the best comments sent via text messages, email and online onto a single page, in real-time, alongside the on-air discussion. When we launch it, it'll be accessible from the top promo on the homepage.

The News, Sport and Life homepages will be a front door into the wealth of content from across 5 live's output. We're going to make our audio far more accessible, by launching a first for the BBC - chapterisation. We'll be highlighting points in our output, which you can jump straight to with one click. We'll be able to bring you a vast range of our interviews, news items, sport reports and film reviews, all accessible from our new programme episode pages.

Fans of Mark Kermode's film reviews will be pleased to find that we'll have an audio/video archive of his reviews from the past year or so, sorted into movie genres, to help you find the best way to spend a night out at the cinema, or in on the sofa.

There's this new 5 live blog too. It'll give you insight into what's coming up on 5 live, new presenters and programmes, as well as detailing the complex process of moving the whole operation to BBC North in Salford Quays. You'll have the opportunity to comment on all posts here on the blog.

That's probably enough information for now. I hope you like what you see.

Jags Parbha is senior content producer at BBC Radio 5 live and is responsible for the site redesign

• Brett Spencer, 5 live Interactive Editor, wrote about the new web site on the BBC Internet blog.