''We've been fortunate our Web site has held up unlike many of the major news sites like CNN.com and MSNBC.com, which have been down most of the morning due to the traffic,'' said Conan Gallaty, the Chronicle's new media director.

Major news Web sites could have gone down for a variety of reasons, Mr. Gallaty said, including an unprecedented number of customers seeking access. The Chronicle site saw much more traffic than normal, but was still accessible, he said.

The unprecedented search for information could also be found in the sales of extra copies of the newspaper.

The Chronicle printed 25,000 copies of a special street-sale edition Tuesday afternoon, 23,000 issues sold within five hours.

''People are wanting to know what has been happening on the national scene as well as how it is impacting them locally,'' Mr. Gallaty said.

The newspaper's online news team posted local closings, reactions and events throughout Tuesday afternoon, he said.

''It's been a team effort - we've done what we've needed to to get the information out quickly,'' Mr. Gallaty said. ''When events like this happen, tons of information is going out from many sources at a rapid pace.''

Mr. Gallaty said the new media section would be setting up a special section on the terrorists attacks and updating the package as more details come in.