Window shopping on the web

HikerDeals.com: This site can help you save on gifts for outdoorsy friends and relatives, whether they are cyclists, backpackers, skiers, runners or kayakers. The site also features in-depth gear guides on everything from headlamps to Clif Builder bars, which it describes as having "a surprisingly good, foodlike texture." The site's focus, however, is on finding the best deals, which are posted regularly to the home page and segmented into gear categories like running and cycling and snow and slopes. The offers can be substantial — 20 percent off one item at REI.com. Beware of scrolling down too far, however, since some deals closer to the bottom of the page may have expired.

Books

Bookreporter.com: This site is brimming with resources for book lovers like monthly book-review newsletters and a blog with highlights from the latest industry conferences and other news. The reviews and suggestions are compiled by a team of some 75 volunteers and organized by the site's editor, Carol Fitzgerald, a former marketing services director at magazine publisher Conde Nast Publications. Gift seekers should head to the "What to give/What to get section." The area has suggestions in 13 categories ranging from cookbooks (it recommends titles like "The Essence of Chocolate") to teens (try "How to Be Popular.") Entries link to Amazon.com, from which Bookreporter earns money for driving traffic.

Technology

Engadget.com: This popular gadget review site has a special Holiday Gift Guide section with a selection of gifts in all price ranges, from a WiFi router to the automatic floor-washing iRobot Scooba. Options are organized by price range and recipient. For those who want to dig deeper, the site — which draws more than 1.1 million unique monthly visitors, according to Nielsen/NetRatings — still hosts its steady stream of the latest tech news and reviews and stories on everything from robotic frogs to a rash of PlayStation3 scams.