Related Web links:

Most papers tiptoeing onto Internet

"Is The Enquirer going to have a Web site?"

"Is there any way I can search on the Internet for a story I saw last week?"

"Can I read The Enquirer online?"

"When is The Enquirer going online?"

And the answers are: Yes, No, Maybe and Soon.

Let me elaborate.

Yes, The Enquirer has a Web site (http://enquirer.com), which officially opens Nov. 1.

No, you will not be able to search Enquirer archives. Only some articles that appear in The Enquirer at the site, but there will be other information, such as a guide to Cincinnati.

Access to the site will be free.

The Enquirer joins 782 U.S. newspapers that have online editions. Many are community weeklies or alternative newspapers.

Few newspapers put most of their print content online. Some notable exceptions are the San Jose Mercury News (http://www.sjmercury.com), New York Times (http://www.nyt.com), Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com), Wall Street Journal (http://www.wsj.com), USA Today (http://www.usatoday.com) and the Christian Science Monitor (http://www.csmonitor.com). All either charge a subscription fee or plan to in the future.

A joint web site

Just as The Cincinnati Enquirer and The Cincinnati Post are published under a joint operating agreement, so the web sites of The Enquirer and Post will be linked through a common site, GoCincinnati! (http://cincinnati.com)

GoCincinnati! will offer primarily advertising and information about the Cincinnati, including searchable classified ads from the Enquirer and Post.

Web ads from the Enquirer and Post will also appear jointly on the two newspaper sites.

The Enquirer site is produced by the newsroom of The Enquirer. The Post newsroom will produce a separate web site, @The Post (http://www.cincypost.com).

It may be hard to visualize how all this works. GoCincinnati! is the umbrella site, linking to Enquirer.com and @The Post.

Each site will have its own URL, and can also be reached from GoCincinnati! Parts of Enquirer.com can be reached directly: Borgman cartoons at http://borgman.enquirer.com Bengals coverage at http://bengals.enquirer.com and Reds pages and http://reds.enquirer.com

According to Post managing editor Robert Kraft, the Post site, which also debuts Nov. 1 is still evolving, but will include articles from The Post as well as sports and entertainment information.

A look to the future

GoCincinnati! already has plans to create a "classified registry" so visitors can ask the site to notify them via email is certain ads appear. This will begin with the CareerFinder job ads.

Mr. Jackson sees the possibility of producing multiple versions of the sites, with different pages optimized for different browsers and users. The sites might offer customized editions for visitors with special interests.

"In 1997 we should be able to bring forum and chat services into play," said Mr. Jackson. "But they would be moderated and edited for public consumption."

As cable modems and satellite links speed the Internet, Mr. Jackson predicts the sites incorporating multimedia (audio and video).

George Blake, vice president of community affairs for The Enquirer and Post, and head of the online project, sees the sites as among the most important Web sites in Cincinnati.

"The combined news resources of the Enquirer and Post will make the GoCincinnati! web site the most complete in reporting news from the Greater Cincinnati area," Mr. Blake said.

E-mail Charles Brewer with questions, comments and suggestions at cbrewer@enquirer.com.

Published Oct. 27, 1996.