THE Straits Times is adopting a new approach to its digital content to make it more available for people to read and share from tomorrow.

Currently, non-subscribers who go to ST's website and its apps on smartphones and tablets can read only a few paragraphs of its stories, and not all stories at that. From tomorrow, this will change.

Readers will be able to consume all stories of their choice - including those from print - in their entirety.

There will, however, be a quota on the number they can read each month.

To celebrate SG50, readers can get 50 free stories for the month of July. The quota for future months will be announced later.

If they take part in a free registration, they will get unlimited access to all stories until Aug 9.

But only subscribers will get PDFs of the paper.

This is just one of the many changes to ST, which celebrates its 170th anniversary on July 15.

A major revamp will see ST overhauled across all platforms - its print newspaper, its website at www.straitstimes.com and its apps on Apple and Android smartphones and tablets.

ST editor Warren Fernandez said the changes will bring a new look and new ideas to ST, but "with the same Singapore soul".

The revamp will mean greater integration between the print and digital platforms, and aims to make the newspaper "more local, more global, more visual, as well as more digital and social", he said.

Besides a new way of letting readers read and pay for online content, there will be other changes to the digital versions of ST:

• A clean, modern and modular look

A new design will see content organised according to "blocks", with the best offerings across sections in each block.

For example, in the Viewpoints block, readers will find commentaries on politics from Han Fook Kwang, on sports from Rohit Brijnath, and on lifestyle topics from John Lui.

• No more pinching of screens
  

Readers will no longer have to zoom in and out when they go to www.straitstimes.com via the browser on their phone or tablet.

The website is now mobile-friendly, which means content will fit the device it appears in and display nicely.

• Go ahead and share
  

Like what you read on ST?

All online stories can be freely shared on Facebook and Twitter from tomorrow.

• Videos on the go
  

A lot more videos have been added to the content menu, easily accessible in the Videos block.

Readers will have to update their ST apps tomorrow as the current versions will cease to function then.

If the automatic update function on their mobile device is switched on, the new ST app will automatically update itself.

But if the automatic update function is switched off, they should update the app by going to Apple's App Store, or Google Play for Android users.