The Mount Pleasant Virtual Community page, for example, lists bus schedules and the names of police officers who patrol the area. Alexandria, on the other hand, offers a summary of the fiscal 1997 budget and copies of the mayor's latest press releases.

The State of Maryland offers electronic directories allowing you to look up minority businesses or quickly find the phone number of any state employee, while Virginia provides a comprehensive index of bills introduced this year in the General Assembly.

None of the government-run sites in the region, however, allows residents to pay fines or apply for permits on-line. In Maryland, unlike Virginia, the legislature has not jumped on the Web, but all Maryland state agencies are in the process of getting e-mail accounts that will allow residents to communicate with them.

Although Maryland Gov. Parris N. Glendening (D) and the county executives in Montgomery and Howard counties have posted their e-mail addresses, there's no guarantee of a reply. When The Post sent messages to all three in May, only Howard County Executive Charles I. Ecker (R) responded. Several messages to Glendening were returned, apparently because the governor's computer was unable to accept messages.

The District government is still building its site, which it plans to launch this year. An Alexandria firm called JC Computer Services says it maintains the official DC Home Page, but city officials said the site is not formally sanctioned by the mayor's office, and the site has not been accessible in recent days.

Every area county except Fairfax has a community-oriented Web site, although some are not official government sites. Montgomery, Howard and Arlington counties and the cities of Alexandria and Annapolis have government-sponsored sites. Others are run by volunteers, small businesses or Internet service companies, including Southern Maryland Online, Loudoun On-Line, Middleburg Online and Alexandria on the Net. Often it's hard to tell who runs the services, because many commercial guides also provide detailed government information, and some government sites are on commercial networks.

That sort of collaboration can have beneficial effects. The Potomac KnowledgeWay Project, an alliance of local businesses, governments and nonprofit groups, offers discussion groups and a comprehensive list of links to local Web sites on its Crossroads site.

Staff writer Dan Beyers contributed to this report

There's more! Read the rest of the Washington Web Guide.