The Web is more just a reference tool. It's also a place to hang out, look around, and explore. And yet sometimes it feels hard to navigate. (It's easy to get trapped into vicious web circles. Homepage to search engine to results page, and nothing new in between. But it doesn't have to be that way...)
    Whether your homepage is Netscape, Microsoft, Yahoo!, Alta, AOL, your ISP, your college, or your company's intranet, it pays to know where else you can go to get started. Many sites specialize in filtering the web ---weeding out to best, the newest, the weirdest sites available. some sites feature a different link every day or week. Bookmark some of these starting points  and you'll be surfing like a pro in no time.   

A "New" Outlook
    First let's look into timely resources. There are several places to find new and notable sites. Yahoo! What's New presents five daily picks every weekday, as well as links to live net events, new additions to Yahoo!, and selected Internet starting points such as the Dilbert cartoon and Yastrologer horoscopes. Along the same lines, Netscape What's New features new and notable sites, each annotated with a short description. Finally, there's What's New Too!, not a highly filtered list like the other two, but more of a listing service. The quick turnaround time makes it interesting because many of the sites listed are brand new to the Net. There are plenty of other sites that specialize in "new" resource. Browse 'em in Yahoo!'s Indices to Web Documents. What's New category and bookmark your favorites.

Getting Cool
    Next up is the search for "cool". That's the Internet term for anything that's worth a look. Of course, worth a look doesn't mean it's useful, or even worth bookmarking. The sites may be well-designed, or particularly weird, or funny, or any number of other "cool" criteria. But still, if someone took the time and effort to single out a particular site, it must be doing something to distinguish itself. Some of the best places to find out what's cool include: USA Today's Hot Sites, a page of about half a dozen interesting links; Project Cool Sightings, from the originator of the "cool"