Staggered loading-in of data works extremely well. Instead of loading in 100 items, load in 10-20 (whatever will fill up to the fold*2 is my go-to threshold), a

Staggered loading-in of data works extremely well. Instead of loading in 100 items, load in 10-20 (whatever will fill up to the fold*2 is my go-to threshold), and then background load the rest as the user is busy with those. Think about caching too, if a particular XML feed is fetched frequently. Also, animations and fades really help in the appearance of speed (versus the above, which actually increases it).