The Danville Weekly will publish its last print edition Oct. 2 and shift its focus entirely online, publisher Gina Channell-Allen announced this week.

The online enterprise has been in process for more than a year as the Weekly has greatly expanded the number of visitors to its Web site and launched the very successful Danville Express, an e-mail news digest delivered to more than 5,000 people.

"With the cost and environmental impact of printing and mailing a newspaper continuing to rise, we have been planning for the day when we felt an online alternative could more efficiently fill the same needs in the community as a newspaper," Channell-Allen said. "Unfortunately, the dismal economy has accelerated these plans."

"While we realize this will be an adjustment for many, it puts us at the forefront of the way people will get their news and information in the future, and it will ultimately allow us to do much more than what is possible in a printed newspaper," she continued.

The changes will include concentrating resources to report up-to-the-minute local news online, moving from three days a week to a Monday through Friday daily Express e-mail edition, and an emphasis on community participation and interaction.

This new, multiplatform strategy for the Danville Weekly will "secure and enlarge our role in serving the daily, local news and advertising needs of Danville and the neighboring communities we now cover," Channell-Allen said.

In just the last year, both unique monthly visitors and page views on DanvilleWeekly.com have tripled.

"A great number of community members prefer to receive their news more quickly in an electronic format," said Channell-Allen, referring to the 18,000 unique visitors to the Web site each month.

Beginning Monday, Oct. 5, residents can look to DanvilleExpress.com for local news and advertising, and popular features such as the Town Square community forum, movie reviews and times, and a host of other resources.

"While it saddens us to discontinue the print version, we believe the future of community news is online," said Channell-Allen. "We look forward to continuing our tradition of quality journalism, just delivering it via a different medium. And we are excited about introducing new features that help build a stronger and more interactive community.

The Danville Weekly began publication May 6, 2005, from an office on Diablo Road. During the intervening years, it also published a special Hay Days section for July 3-4, 2008, and an Info Resource Guide. It is part of Embarcadero Publishing, which has three papers on the peninsula, one in Marin and the Pleasanton Weekly.