The Jolly Guy Is Now On Line

Having trouble getting your modern-day kids to believe that Santa comes down the chimney?

Maybe you’d be better off telling them the jolly fellow gains access to the house through the computer modem.

You better not cry,

you better not fret.

Santa’s coming to you,

on the Internet.

So it won’t replace “White Christmas” any time soon. But your kids in this digital age might be more comfortable E-mailing Santa, rather than going the old-fashioned analog route of taking pen in hand to write a letter.

Yes, Virginia, this year you can write to Santa Claus on the Internet at three different addresses. They are santa@north.pole.org, santa@newslink13.com and santa@northpole.net. All three are supposed to reply promptly with a dispatch from the North Pole.

If you have access through your Internet connection to the World Wide Web--which allows you to browse full-color graphics, sounds and even videos on the ‘Net--you can go another digital step further.

Because the WWW offers so much more than plain text and makes the Internet far easier to navigate, it has become hugely popular this year. The big online services, such as America On Line and CompuServe, provide only limited access to the Internet and don’t yet offer WWW. But you can try it out if you use an Internet provider with a more direct connection, such as the popular Netcom service or the Los Angeles-based Earthlink, which offers relatively simple-to-use Macintosh and Windows interfaces (Earthlink’s information line is (213) 664-9500).

The most entertaining and worthy WWW Santa site is sponsored by the Internet Multicasting Service, a nonprofit group that uploads public interest radio programs onto the Internet. At that address--https://north.pole.org--you can fill out a form to send a letter to Santa, Rudolph or the elves.

But the site goes much further, allowing you to click into little sound bites of “Jingle Bells” or a reading of “ ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.” You can also click into holiday texts by such notables as Shakespeare, Tennyson and Wordsworth, and learn about vegetation at the frozen north by moving into “Rudolph’s Kitchen” and reading whimsical recipes for such reindeer delights as algae newtons and moss snaps.

Best of all, this site features a Cyberspace Christmas campaign that allows you to painlessly help several charities at this most appropriate time of year. All you have to do is click on one of the groups--such as Plugged In, an organization that provides educational and other technological services to low-income youth in the Silicon Valley area--and one of the campaign’s corporate sponsors will automatically contribute 10 cents to the organization.

Those small contributions can add up to a significant donation. One of the sponsors, Sun Microsystems, has pledged to give up to $25,000 to the campaign. So, click on the groups you like early and often.

The other two WWW Santa sites are more commercial. At the Canadian-based https://northpole.net, you can post a letter to Santa and get various messages from the elves, but you are also given information on how you can get your very own “I E-Mailed Santa” button for $5.

And at https://www.neosoft.com/citylink, you are invited to browse the “Santa’s Christmas Favorites” area where you can order such items as silk scarves and glass dome-covered clocks. (Remember those from your Aunt’s house?)

Finally, if you don’t have an Internet hookup and still want to have a bit of digital fun at Christmas, there is a new children’s CD-ROM for the holiday called “Follow That Sleigh!” It is compatible with both the Macintosh and Windows formats.

This CD-ROM, with clay animation sequences, does not feature any breakthrough technology and is not particularly striking, graphically.

But the rapping reindeer, backed by an enthusiastic chorus of penguins (OK, so they do not exist at the North Pole, but bah humbug if you care) is charming, as are several other features on this games and activities disc.

* Cyburbia’s Internet address is Colker@news.latimes.com.