The Internet is growing by leaps and bounds, and it's hard to know exactly where to go when you hop on. At The Net, we spend our days researching the net, zipping from here to there, checking out the latest and the greatest.

We've created our Blue Pages Internet Directory to help filter the net. It will point to places of interest and explain what's of most value there, and if necessary what not to waste your precious online time on.

Our Blue Pages reviewers are both curators and explorers. They're charting the unfamiliar terrain and sorting through the best and worst of what they've found each month. We've asked them to assign overall letter grades (the familiar A-F hierarchy) to the sites, as well as assess them according to three criteria. And, each month, we pick a subject and do an exhaustive search on it. This month, the subject is gastronomic delights on the net. Feast on it!

Art
Bizarre
Corporate
Education
Film
Gaming
Health & Fitness
Humanities
Lifestyle
Literature
Music
Pastimes
Politics
Professional
Reference
Religion
Science
Shopping
Sports
Travel
Vanity Pages
Web Technology

We look at three criteria when we review a Web site, and assign icons to show you how the site measures up:

CONTENT How much content is there, and of what quality? Is there enough to satisfy someone interested in this topic and seeking to learn more about it? Is the content good enough to keep you coming back?
Rich in content
Fair amount of content
Needs more content

AESTHETIC MERIT How attractive is the site? Though prettiness can't usually stand on it's own, the layout is important. Does it pull the viewer in? Does it excite your interest? Does it make you want to come back?
A visual 10!
Appealing, not great
A dog

TECHNOLOGICAL SMARTNESS How well-constructed is the site? Are there effective navigational tools? To what extent does the site integrate Web technologies like animation, tables, colored backgrounds, custom horizontal rules, etc.? Does the site creatively work around HTML conventions?
Rocket science material
Not stupid
Needs a brain

The best sites we've found are named Sites of the Month. Look for the icon at the right to help identify these sites.