By BRUCE HALLETT PRESIDENT

When it comes to delivering information, computers have a lot of advantages over magazines, but being pretty isn't one of them. "There's nothing worse than trying to read text on a monitor," admits Janet Waegel, TIME's online design director. Waegel therefore took it as a challenge to reinvent the magazine's electronic editions, which appear each week on Pathfinder, Time Warner's site on the Internet http://www.pathfinder.com/time) and on America Online. Seven months ago, she and designer Ron Plyman threw out everything they knew about designing for print and started from scratch, trying to create a newsmagazine tailored to the online medium.

The result: a brand-new look, complete with photos and graphics, that invites readers to dig even deeper into the week's news, exchange opinions with editors and other readers, search through the archives or rub virtual shoulders with newsmakers. "Stories that are static on a printed page are active--and interactive--on a computer," says online manager Waits May, who conceived of the new approach and oversaw its execution. "There are so many paths to follow, we needed a new navigation system that was as clear and intuitive as possible."

The new design comes just as TIME is redoubling its electronic presence. Time Daily, a news digest launched a year ago, has gone from being posted once a day to being continually updated. "Our correspondents are reporting more than enough fresh news and exclusives to update nonstop," says Time Online senior editor Janice Castro. "Readers can tap into what we know on a daily and even hourly basis." And thanks to photo editor Jay Colton, the Daily now includes maps and pictures as well.

To get even closer to the people in the news, AOL subscribers can tune in to one of TIME's electronic press conferences. This week TIME Online will hold forums with novelist-screenwriter Richard Price (Clockers) and U.S. Senator Alfonse D'Amato. Friday night the guest will be Michael Crichton, this week's cover subject. "We try to make these conferences as interactive as possible by bringing not just the TIME journalists who cover the news but also the newsmakers themselves," says public affairs manager Nancy Kearney. "We think of it as news in 3-D."