For generations, newspaper pages were set by hand, one cast-metal letter at a time, in a hand-held tray called a "stick."

In 1884, the invention of the Linotype machine ushered in the era of "hot type" -- lines of copy cast in hot lead on a machine with a typewriter keyboard.

In the modern print media, typesetting and page layout are computerized. This is "cold type" -- lines of text and other elements converted straight from a digital file to a printing plate, then to paper.

The web takes "cold type" one step further. Now, an entire publication can be produced and distributed electronically. It's fast and cheap, and it's also highly flexible, because any form of media content can be incorporated into the finished product.

On this site, a former television journalist is experimenting with web-based multimedia storytelling -- combining print, pictures, video and other forms of digital data into an integrated electronic whole.