Just defining the criteria for this list flummoxed us. Fantasy baseball? Too frivolous. A cocktail database? Not Chicago-specific. Svengoolie's blog? Uh, no. We settled on listing those essentially local sites we thought would be most useful or interesting to people who live right here. (And we left off the most obvious, such as ChicagoTribune.com and SunTimes.com.) Of course, there's no way we could ever have checked out everything. What'd we miss? Tell us in the comments below.

THE LIST >>

171 Chicago Web sites we love—and why—divided into categories including news, sports, arts & culture, shopping, real estate, music, parenting, and more.

 

MY FAVORITE SITES >>

Four local experts on music, politics, food, and design share the Web sites that keep them up to date in their fields.

 

TIME LESS WELL SPENT >>

Besides the useful sites listed in this article, local Web culture offers several others that are just good for leisurely browsing.

 

GET WIRED >>

Six spots that we think vie for the title of perfect neighborhood Wi-Fi café

 

JUST THE LINKS, PLEASE >>

A downloadable bookmark for quick access to all of these sites! PLUS: a list of just the links

 

NET PIX >>

Almost two million photos on Flickr have a Chicago connection. From an earthbound angel to an eerie nocturnal landscape, here are 13 local pix that click.

 

 
Illustration: Quickhoney