Pleasant and uncluttered, reminiscent of a soothing, pastel-painted clinic, The New York Times Women's Health Web site is as full of information and as level-headed as your favorite clinician. Balanced between a stable of steady features -- "Bookshelf," "Data," "Resources" -- and feature articles, the site offers women (and men) comprehensive answers to a variety of health-related questions. "29 Issues" divides a woman's body into regions of concern, each with its own girth of information, ranging from basic facts and archived articles to outside resources. In the "Women's Health Bookshelf," generous excerpts from The Harvard Guide to Women's Health, The Women's Complete Health Book, and The New Our Bodies, Ourselves further enlarge the information base. By laying bare the ambiguities of sensitive health concerns, this site -- doggedly open-minded, thoroughly investigative -- arms readers with a bank of knowledge heretofore not readily available.

Such a relevant online collection of women-specific literature sets a significant standard. Even Gloria Steinem must be pleased.