Being quarantined in my apartment for 48 hours by Gannett for my own health and that of others at the end of this past week, and extending that slothfulness into the weekend, I turned to entertaining myself with The New Yorker, NPR, disco music and like any self-respecting clothes-lover, fashion magazines and browsing clothing online.

First, a public service announcement re: the flu and other circulating illnesses. 1) Prevention: EVERYONE should be drinking a lot of fluids (alcohol doesn’t count, sorry), getting enough sleep and limiting stress. I realize those last two are difficult — I am, unfortunately, a poster child for sleep-deprivation and stress. Do what you can, leave what you can’t, try meditation and/or exercise. 2) Once you’re feeling sick: continue with fluids and rest. Gannett recommends going to see the doctor if you have a fever over 101, have an unidentified rash, have swollen neck glands, have pre-existing conditions like asthma, diabetes, immune-suppression and heart, lung, liver, or kidney disease. Otherwise, e-mail your profs and just stay home one or two days.

If they heed the public health warnings, more and more people will be spending time indoors cooped up this semester, so I realized what was needed was Alex’s Guide to Internet Shopping, so here it is.

To start off, what are the basic pros and cons of shopping online? Pros: more selection both of retailers and of merchandise, not having to leave the house and often finding deals. Cons: you can’t really tell what you’re getting — color, pattern, detail-work and fit are all left up to what’s basically guess work, not every store is online, and plus, you pay for shipping. We’ll get back to how to solve these problems later.

Scenario 1: You found something you really love in the physical store, but they don’t have it in the right color. Go directly to the store’s website, armed with as much information about the piece as you can: style name, size, etc. so you can find it. You may be introduced to a similar style that wasn’t in the store but that you like better. Order away!

Scenario 2: You just want to ‘go shopping’ — you’re not looking for anything in particular, just something new and interesting. Start at the sites of stores you typically like to go to in person. For me, Target is always great, so I might start there. Just as you might go into a department store to browse, you can visit bigger stores with wider scope online, too. Or, if you know you want something more specific, like shoes, you might go to a retailer who specializes.

Scenario 3: You have noticed a trend (or read about it here!), or seen an amazing dress walking around campus, and you’re dying to be a part of it. If you know a good name for it, start with that. If not, describe it the best you can. As with everything in life, you can start at Google. For example, I would really love to own pair of high-waisted shorts, but I haven’t found any I like in a reasonable price range. Google gives a few links to stores that are selling them, along with blogs and articles that mention them (although why you would need fashion advice from anyone but me I couldn’t possibly imagine), which in turn may have links and examples.

After Googling, go to the websites of stores you imagine might have the item, or might have it in your price range. Most websites are searchable now, which is awesome. If you aren’t getting any results and you are pretty sure they have what you want, try changing what you are searching for, or look within a broader category like “pants.”

Another resource is sites which have already compiled information. One AMAZING site like this is InStyle magazine’s online shopping department. You can browse literally thousands of items by brand and category as well as searching at varying levels of specificity. They’ll even notify you if something you have marked goes on sale.

Scenario 4: Reckless fashion daydreaming. Relatively self-explanatory: try locating something outrageously expensive and fabulous you saw in a magazine, or on a celebrity, Windows-shop (sorry, had to — bad puns are in my blood) for precious stones the size of your Cornell ID, you know, have a blast. A lot of the same thrills of browsing in a real store can be achieved online — except you can shop for many-thousand dollar handbags while wearing your headgear.

So, you’ve found what you think you want. There’re still some inherent problems with shopping online. The biggest deterrent for me is definitely not being able to try things on, although this can be avoided in several ways. Do you or one of your friends own anything by the same company? Sizing may (but may not!) be pretty standard in their clothes. Is there a physical store nearby where you could try something on? Does the website have any comments about sizing? You can try reading user comments, but I generally end up more confused than when I started. One thing they are useful for is checking color. Maybe something looks red in the picture but it’s actually dark pink, or something like that. Lastly, ask yourself, can I afford this? Somehow it always feels easier to me to spend money online, even though you have to go through putting in all your info.

I hope this has been an interesting look at yet another way the Interweb has enriched and complicated our lives. Stay healthy, good luck with the first round of prelims, and always always know the return policy.