Innovative firsts

First newspaper to go all colour on January 31, 1986

First newspaper to launch a website in the Gulf in 1996

First newspaper to use its readers' letters to pursue consumer rights from the early 1990s. Later developed into first, and only dedicated, Readers Desk in June 2006

First newspaper group to launch a community tabloid in the region - Xpress. March 2007

First newspaper to use the modern 'Berliner' size, making all rivals look old fashioned and clunky. June 2012

The first with a tabloid leisure section, a family weekly magazine and a children's weekly magazine

The first separate pages of "news from home" for various expatriate nationalities

The first with a tabloid classifieds section

The first with a comprehensive business and sports section

The first with heat-set colour printing with glazed paper (from 1986)

The first with computerised page make-up (1988)

The first to use recycled newsprint