Pooling Life magazine's vast archive -- only 3 percent of which has ever been published -- with a Getty collection that grows by 3,000 images a day, Life.com will comprise, from the moment of its inception, the single largest online cache of professional photography, with 7 million pictures and counting.

The vastness of that trove, and its searchability, is key to the immersive user experience Life.com is hoping to create, says editor Bill Shapiro, who also edited the supplement. "My whole thing is about getting lost in the photos," he says. "I call it a post-literate experience."

Content on the site will be divided into five chief areas: News, Celebrities, Sports, Travel and Animals. A team of five editors will curate various topic pages within those areas, and users will also be able to create their own photo collections, which they'll be able to then embed on non-commercial blogs or share on networking sites like Facebook. Celebrities will also be invited to guest-edit pages; first up will be Ellen DeGeneres, who will curate a collection of dog photos.