THE BIG Issue Scotland is to acknowledge current web fashions and relaunch its website to include elements of reader interaction next week.

But in a move distinctly less in line with the times, it is removing all current editorial content from the web in the same move.

The newly designed website will go live on Thursday, March 29, to coincide with the homeless weekly magazine's Vote 07 pre-election edition. Readers and vendors will be invited to submit questions that will be answered in the magazine by the political party leaders.

They will also be able to submit blog-style pieces about issues in their areas, which will feed into the topical Big Story section in the main magazine, and also reviews of arts events and products.

Editor Clare Harris said she had decided to ignore the general trend for attracting web traffic at any cost by including all editorial content free of charge on websites.

"No other publication is sold by homeless street vendors for a social purpose, which is why we need to be very careful," she said.

There will, however, be a small number of the most popular features from past editions, starting with an interview with the pop band Franz Ferdinand from 2004 and more recent ones with singer Robbie Williams, actor David Tennant and writer Irvine Welsh.

She rejected suggestions that the plan could fail because the magazine's readers were disenfranchised people who tend not to have access to the web. "You would be surprised at how many people have access through drop-in centres or friends. Secondly, it's a misconception that the only people who read The Big Issue are homeless. It is for everyone," she said.

The hope, as with most editorial web drives of recent years, is to tempt readers to try out the magazine. Sales have been on the up in recent months after the Scottish Big Issue was part-merged with its UK sister titles to include some of their content last July. This has given it access to bigger-name interviews on a regular basis.

While sales fell to the low 20,000s last year due to a price rise from £1 to £1.20 and falling numbers of vendors, Harris said they had recently been around the 30,000 mark.