The international editions of the Wall Street Journal on Monday will publish an 8-page special section (pdf) devoted to the Oct. 17 conversion of those editions to tabloid form. The section is, of course, a tabloid.

Publisher Karen Elliott House writes:

We recognize you are busy, mobile executives. This format is not only attractive, but also convenient to carry and to read. It also enables us to deliver more news than we do in our current broadsheet format, in a more tightly organized package.

At the same time, we will integrate this convenient publication with our award-winning Wall Street Journal Online at WSJ.com, the world's largest paid-circulation news site with 744,000 subscribers around the world, to keep you abreast of business news whenever and wherever you need it. Combined, the two form a powerful, 24/7 tool for business readers.

Our redesigned Wall Street Journal Europe recognizes that. On nearly every print page, you will find pointers to additional news, statistics, photos and even video available online. And online, you will feel instantly at home, with a familiar design and easy-to-use features, including many improvements aimed specifically at readers in Europe and Asia.

Mario Garcia, who led the redesign project, writes:

This renaissance of the tabloid is a story of newspapers transforming themselves to meet rapidly changing needs of readers and advertisers who now easily toggle between a print and online world.

Ironically, it is the advent and acceptance of a new technology — the Internet — that has contributed to this renaissance of an old one — the 400-year-old, smaller-format newspaper.

In a wireless world that is always "on," readers want the portability and convenience of a small format, as well as the online ability to access important information whenever, wherever. Advertisers want new formats, such as those available in compact newspapers, and more efficient ways to reach readers.

There is, however, no evidence that this ad spotted at the Society for News Design conference in Houston this weekend is genuine.

Update: Also, congrats to Mario who, in the midst of all this, ran 4:42 in Sunday's Chicago Marathon. Huzzah!

Correction: Jonathan Hoefler e-mails that Exchange, a Tobias Frere-Jones font, is a new creation: "The Exchange family isn't based on fonts the WSJ currently uses — quite the contrary. Naturally we were given the brief to match or improve the character count of the DowText fonts that the Journal has used for ages, but I think you'll find the new font quite a new font indeed." (Thanks Jonathan!)