One of the things that attracted newspapers most about the Web, says Doug Feaver, executive editor of Washingtonpost.com, was how it could provide easier access to all the content in the miniscule agate type: classifieds, sports scores, stock tables.

		For many news organizations, shell development went on to embrace entertainment (movies, restaurants, music, etc.) and then skidded to a halt.

"Take classifieds," explains Feaver. Say you want to search for a two-bedroom townhouse in a certain town east of X street, north of X street. "You can plug those kinds of parameters and it’ll save you from digging through pages and pages of classified ads."

So, it wasn't surprising that the first use of Web shells by the news side was in sports and business sites, he says, sections that are "chock full of agate."

For many news organizations, shell development went on to embrace entertainment (movies, restaurants, music, etc.) and then skidded to a halt. That's because most of the rest of newspaper content isn't data-driven. But it's becoming clear that, when creative Web shells such as CJOnline's appear, page hits soar.

"I think the traditional view of things is that there's primary content and there are links to everything else," says Hal Traus, database editor and manager at Washington Post.Newsweek Interactive.

"What users would rather have is the information itself, more than just the link. So, we began using a term like content navigation or orbiting content to indicate that there’s more to this stuff than naked link."

To explain that point, let's take a short diversion into how news organizations began dipping their toes into the myriad characteristics of the new medium of the Web. First, they incorporated immediacy, then multiple media (video, audio, animated graphics). Next came depth. But, as news organizations discovered, few people really want to read 200 inches about stamp collecting or listen to two hours of unedited audio. Depth doesn't work well on the Web without two of its other characteristics: context and continuity.

Context and continuity are hard to come by in print and television. Print gets thrown into the daily recycle pile. TV disappears into the ether. On the Web, stories of the day can squat in the middle of links to data, other resources, stories that have been previously published, and background information that might have to be repeated every story on the same topic.

The undisputed master of "beat" Web shells (see the section on shell types for a definition) is Curley, who approaches shell creation from the top down (from the subject), instead of the bottom up (from the story). CJOnline’s shining examples: RockKansas.com, HawkZone, CatZone, PrepZone, and Kansas Legislature.

"Subtlety is really underrated on the Web," says Curley. "I love overkill. We put in everything in the universe of that subject that we can find -- stories, Flash, databases, video. To me, too much is exactly the right amount."

What's difficult about putting the universe on the Web is organizing it. Curley's approach is to list everything that's on the site on the left side, and highlight the parts of the site he and the other editors like the best on the right. In the middle are the stories of the day, with archived stories beneath. He makes sure that each piece of information on the site has three different paths to it.

"I'd like to say it was some huge piece of great research that got me to do that," intones Curley. "But it was just watching people use the site. Some people navigate from text. Others from the right rail, others from imbedded special content. It's all about serving the reader. Makes more sense to be the McDonald's of Web rather than a chic steakhouse."

Shells also need to be updated. "The ink is never dry on these babies," says Curley. The Kansas legislature site started out "overwhelmingly big and had a lot of cool stuff. After last legislative session, it's grown exponentially."

Web shells can be confusing, not only to the journalists who put them together, but also to readers who are trying to make heads or tails of how to navigate the site.

"The world knows how a print newspaper works," says Feaver. "The A section has the important news of the day, national and international. The metro section has city and regional news. Then there's sports, business, style."

There are variations, but all U.S. print newspapers work approximately the same way. You can't say that about news organization Web sites. "We as an industry haven’t got that down yet," says Feaver.

But it will when the technology and software mature, and as long as news organizations keep experimenting with the Web's context and continuity characteristics.

On to ... What's in a Shell?