The aesthetics of a digital narrative can include multiple techniques and tools. They can range from elements including sight, sound, touch, interactivity, and hyper-links. Ricardo writes on aesthetics, "In electronic art and literature, ones critical gaze falls on the aesthetic mechanism of an electronic work or an the aesthetic experience of what it generates".The most common forms of multimedia elements used in cohesion with a digital narrative are videos, images, and animation. The addition of these medias with text creates a dynamic experience where the author can directly interact with the reader. Where print media contains a physical location that can be "physically located in space" (Abbe Don), digital writing is more abstract and one method of grounding the reader in the story is to include their interaction in the reading process. Abbe Don comments on the loss of the physical, "we have lost the physical, concrete entity of the page and replaced it with a vague virtual space". The way in which the reader interacts and responds to the piece is largely due to the aesthetic appeal of the story being told. To create such an aesthetically pleasing piece these elements must contribute to the narrative while not disrupting the flow of the written words. A definition of narrative given by Abbe Don sums up how the written word and elements interact, "Narrative includes both the story being told (content) and the conditions of its telling (structure and context)" (Abbe Don). This is to say that the multimodal elements are as much a part of the story as the words. They give the reader a purpose for choosing to view the extra information. The piece must also function the same on any platform that it may be viewed upon. This is to ensure that the intended design that the developer created remains intact as stories are read through multiple types of platforms. The elements must also be of a basic design so that the story is as accessible to the largest number of readers. 

The content is essentially the story being told. In a digital piece it may take shape in a variety of forms. While traditional text that utilizes journalistic techniques such as a lead and a hook must remain, the story can be told through a variety of angles by using digital tools. A video can describe a setting in ways that words cannot and an image can portray human qualities that words cannot capture. The narrative is the core of the story and the root in which the piece takes place. Marie-Laure Ryan defines narrative through three steps, "A narrative text must create a world and populate it with characters and objects. The world referred ti by the text must undergo changes of state that are caused  by non habitual physical events. The text must allow the reconstruction of an interpretive network of goals, plans, causal relations, and psychological motivations around the narrated events". The story must be something that the public and readers have an interest in such as stories that affect a populace. The quality of the content must be at a level that indicates research and investigation was conducted. The addition of several types of media inherently demonstrate the amount work and effort put into the piece. It also allows for information to be conveyed in multiple ways. As society moves toward a fully digitized environment, so to must the news which can be described as the "public mirror". 

This portion of the matrix deals with the platform that the piece is published with and the tools that it offers. This can include the platform or software that the reader uses to view the piece, or the software that the developer used to create the piece. With regards to the reader's relationship with the journalistic pieces, the question of a pay-wall comes into question. Certain companies have attempted to monetize their production by charging a fee per story (see Matter). These attempts resulted in a drastic decline in readership and became the example set for future companies. This being said if a pay-wall is present it must then be reflective of the quality of work being offered. This may also take shape in a subscription model that delivers multiple pieces of a flat rate, instead of per-story. Other questions that are raised include, what the sharing possibilities include. Whether or not the story can be shared between people is a large part of how public interest is gained for a digital story. The level of control over the story and its facets by the reader is an important part of this section of the matrix. This deals specifically with the way in which reader's absorb material presented to them on a digital platform and if provided with the maximum amount of control, will create an enjoyable experience. 

The senses and stimuli portion of the reader's matrix deals with how the reader experiences the digital piece. In a digital environment, the reader views the story in different ways than on traditional physical forms. Attention is harder to maintain and the differing types of stimuli act as anchors that ground the reader in the story. The atmosphere that these stimuli can create is due in large part to how they work together to create the storytelling experience. An example of a story that creates an atmosphere is "Snowfall", by John Branch of the New York Times. How the author or creator uses and places the digital tools within the story can shape how the narrative is received. By manipulating the users senses and strategically placing stimuli throughout the story, the creator can create a stimulating and engaging narrative experience.