Online writing isn't simply writing the story in inverted pyramid style so the people know the most important information. It is also about determining the best way to tell the story and using all the media form to deliver it. These media forms include text, audio, video, and graphics. For online writing, using at least 2 of these mediums is expected.
For example, the main story on NYTimes.com today (April 19. 2010) is the killing of 2 Al Qaeda leaders by Iraq and U.S. intelligence. This online story begins with a big picture of a U.S. soldier standing tall next to a framed photo of the dead Al Qaeda leader, taller than he soldier.
Within the story, names of important people such as "Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki" are blue and underlined letting readers know that clicking on their name will link you to any other stories about this person.
Next to the story, there is a side bar with links that say "sign in to recommend", "twitter", "sing in to e-mail", "print", "reprints", and "share."
Under the story, there is a section called "Past Coverage" that links readers to any articles that previously covered this story and a section called "Related Sources" that links readers to any article that can be related to this particular story.
What would make this online story better? Video and audio.
As a reader, I would like to be able to read the story and then watch a video of the news conference where they announced that the Al Qaeda leaders were found and killed.
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