When Newsbytes surfed into the site we found a main page offering a number of areas with photographs, including "Today's Top News," along with a piece called "Cyberspace Invasion" asking if there is intelligent life on the Web. The reader was also hyperlinked to the Web Exploration Society, part of the site's Interact section, and an in-depth investigation into the current epidemic of church burnings.

Along the top of the page was a Washington Post banner, below which was a clickable drop-down list of areas to visit that featured: Main Sections, Business, Interact (Talk & Technology), International, National, Sports, Style, Washington World (Metro), and Weather.

The Sports section, for example, includes a breakdown of each major league baseball team, and overall up-to-the-minute standings and statistics.

According to the company, the site offers editorial content from the day's Washington Post, with the early edition available at 1 am Eastern time, with "continually updated news." Also included is an interactive forum and discussions hosted by "major newsmakers, political figures and more than a dozen preeminent journalists from The Washington Post."

In addition to international and national news, the site also offers local Washington news in the form of the Washington World feature, which offers separate pages on DC and 10 surrounding suburbs in Maryland and Virginia. Those pages offer a variety of information including local music and the club scene, an outdoor recreation guide to the region, and a searchable restaurant database.

The site is advertiser-supported, with 10 companies signing on initially two month prior to launch -- Bell Atlantic, Crown Books, Healthy Back Stores, Hotel Colonial America, Riggs Bank, Source Services, Strayer College, T. Rowe Price, the Washington Area Chevrolet/Geo Dealers, and Winchester Homes. Each banner advertisement is reportedly linked to the advertiser's own Web page.

Digital Ink. Co., the electronic publishing subsidiary of The Washington Post Co, produces washingtonpose.com.

(Ian Stokell/19960619/Press Contact: Erin O'Shea, 703-469-2646, Internet e-mail osheae@washpost.com)