FROM this week, The Straits Times' three weekly lifestyle magazines will have their publication days moved forward by a day.

Digital Life will now appear on Wednesdays, Mind Your Body on Thursdays and Urban on Fridays.

Mr Lawrence Loh, executive vice-president of display advertisements at Singapore Press Holdings, explained: 'Over time, there have been requests from advertisers to move the magazines to the latter part of the week, to be closer to the retail days.'

The revamp of The Straits Times last Friday presented an opportune time for the paper to heed this call.

Advertisers have already responded positively. In particular, they say, shifting Digital Life to Wednesdays and Urban to Fridays will create a bigger shopping buzz.

'The difference of a day is of great significance to us,' said Epson Singapore's general manager Felicia Gan. 'With Singaporeans typically commencing their shopping spree from Fridays, having Digital Life published on Wednesdays will certainly benefit vendors.'

The electronics maker has been advertising in Digital Life since it was launched in 2004, the year all three news magazines were started.

IBM Singapore's marketing director Chris Tan said he welcomed the new publication day as 'mid-week is a timely point to learn about the developments in the fast changing IT landscape'.

With the move, there will also be more giveaways and contests for Digital Life readers, and new content too.

It will introduce sections such as readers' letters and Toolbox, where you can get answers to your tech problems.

The technology magazine, which started life as Computer Times 16 years ago, will also get a new look.

Fashion magazine Urban will start a bi-weekly beauty page that will kick off with the theme of anti-ageing this Friday.

Also, look out for contributions from our beefed-up panel of doctor columnists for Mind Your Body.