Then on March 25, the Times more than doubled the space given to summaries, spreading them over Pages 2 and 3 and renaming the feature "Inside the Times." Page 4, once the reliable home of international news, now does meta duty, too, presenting a digest of NYTimes.com pages and serving as the paper's new home for corrections. Now the newspaper reads as if it begins with three speed bumps.

For ink-stained page turners, it was as if the quicksilver Times had put out deck chairs and free tea and invited readers to linger over the news—instead of bolting after it like wild dogs. For many veteran readers of the Times, these magaziney table-of-contents pages fit like a loose suit and read like a celebration of white space.