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Let’s face it. Sometimes a nice list with “X” (where X is an integer between 5 and infinity) of the most interesting things you can find about a certain subject is what you feel you need for your readers.

For example: the 10 best applications for the iPhone, the 20 most interesting code snippets for WordPress, the 30 most popular plugins for jQuery, the 50 best sites to inspire all those web designers who fell victim of a pathological decrease of creativity.

This is a sort of widespread mania, typical of a huge number of bloggers, that behind the naive intention to suggest something interesting and useful to their readers, often hides the opportunistic side, of generating traffic to their site, preferably with little to no effort.

Because lists work. They generate traffic, a lot of it. They represent an investment with high return and low risk that sooner or later every blogger will consider.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing intrinsically bad in choosing the utilitarian side moving along the highway rather than the steep and rugged mountain path. I myself often used lists, use them now and will probably use them in the future, just like many others.

At the end of the day, every blog owner can understand that. The typical case is when, after hours of calculations spent in the vain attempt of finding an interesting topic for your next post, you are miserably forced to lean on the safe long list to reenforce the visits to your site which dramatically decreased since your last post, dating back to a couple of days before.

Just to be sure, a nice article with the “ten coolest fonts of the month” is always a hit destined to climb rapidly the top ten links of the day on Delicious, Reddit, StumbleUpon, Popurls and so on.

A list of the 10 most interesting cheat sheets is by no means to be underestimated either. But since hundreds of lists like that are already around – they’re almost all the same except for the order in which the links appear – you will have to make an effort to find at least 20, 40, 60 (and multiples) fonts or cheat sheets to be more attractive on the market and make your list really memorable.

This is a classic mechanism that triggers a vicious spiral of atrocities, designed to deliver a list made up of a disproportionate number of links on the topic of your choice. Eventually you will have something humongous, capable of competing with the Google index. And rest assured: it will undoubtedly be successful in terms of visits.

If you’re lucky, you’ll also have the pleasure of tasting the bitter glory generated by the appearance of your beautiful mega list on Digg’s homepage. I say “bitter” because if you’re not well equipped, after 30 seconds, your site will collapse, miserably overwhelmed by a horde of visitors per second comparable to your average daily balance.

And now, left on the table, a question: are those lists really useful in giving more value to a blog? To me, popularity and success of a blog are not measured only by the number of visits, but by the quality of content. That’s why I’d think twice.

What about you?

So, you’ve extensively thought about how to turn an idea, a vision into a great presentation and now you’re ready to open your designated application and start filling your slides with images, words, whatever. It might be worth implementing a new phase into the preliminary work, that will save you a lot of revision time later on. Hold tight.

Second Rule: Plan (ahead).

I usually go through this process separating two steps of action.

First, I start off putting the clear ideas I managed to get to, following First Rule, in a place where I can see them all at once. To me, visualization is the best way of organizing my mind and the concepts I have floating in it. It’s like scattering on a table the pieces of a puzzle. You already know how the finished image should look like but you cannot start unless you arrange the pieces in some way. In fact, from then on you can categorize and start putting them all together in an ordered way, getting the big picture in place.

To support this activity I usually reach for my notepad and fill it with words and lines, but sometimes I also use a tiny wonderful application called MindNode (for Mac). At this stage you won’t need anything more than this, no frills.

The second and crucial step is the one in which you linearize the contents, building the flow of information that will lead to a conclusion and ultimately to success. When this time comes, I step away from whichever technological instrument I’m working on and no matter what I pick up pen and paper. I then draw some rectangles (my slide-wannabe’s) and put some words or images into them. You don’t need to be good at drawing to do this.

I will then create a progression, indicating the correct flow between slides and concepts with numbers or arrows, finally getting the big picture laid down and clearly viewable. You’ll end up with 100% of the concept work done before even opening Keynote or Powerpoint (or whichever application you are using) and you will then be able to concentrate only on the aesthetics, instead of wondering if the presentation will be clear and effective when you’re probably already running out of time.

Moreover, in case you’re working as an employee in some company, or you’re producing a presentation that will need to go through the approval of some manager, you’ll be able to present your plan before wasting time in the wrong direction.

Once done, you will find yourself with what can be called a storyboard, ready for “shooting”. Keep the story stuff in mind because that’s what the third rule will be about.

Corollary to Second Rule: Don’t be afraid of changing the plan (if you have better ideas later on)

_{Side note: there’s another (more complex) way of conceiving presentations that implies de-structuring the linearity into a more “ad hoc” stream of information (and Seth Godin mentioned it while describing his dream app for the iPad) but we will talk about that in the future.}

This week our inspiring playlist for web designers contains eight new beautiful tracks. Any suggestion for the next issue? Please leave a comment or subscribe to our RSS feeds to stay up to date with our latest news!

Jónsi – Kolniður

Damien Rice – Delicate

Bent – I Can’t Believe It’s Over

Alexi Murdoch – Orange Sky

Maxime Morin – No Heaven

Peter Gabriel – Love to be Loved

Chris Isaak – Wicked Game

Trespassers William- In A Song

In the last four years of my life I’ve been doing different things. University first, then internship, then a real job in the gaming industry, then recently a new one in the web and communication field, after a huge change in perspective… and I actually guess it’s more or less the same for a lot of you.

After a bit of thinking I realized there’s one thing I’ve been doing throughout the entire process and I’m positive I’ll be doing in my future: presenting. Not focusing on any topic in particular, it’s the pure act of putting ideas into slideshows and present them to someone, whether it’s a CEO, a random manager, a client, a partner, a group of collaborators, a supervisor.

That’s why I thought it was worth sharing my experience with you and introduce you to the Art of Presentations in a series of posts dedicated to discovering how to build a great asset to support your speech. Whether it’s a product presentation, a client meeting for a design proposal, a pitch, really, whatever, there are some rules you will be better off following. They surely changed the way I build my own presentations (and trust me, it’s something I do on a daily basis).

First rule: Think (before you write anything).

I can feel your disappointment, really. But it’s not as straightforward as it seems. Creating a successful presentation is not just putting some data, bullet lists and images together with a “the-more-I-write-the-better-I-look” attitude. This is a way too common mistake. People tend to believe that writing is enough to get a presentation done the right and best way. No. Way.

It’s not about gathering everything you have about a specific subject and putting it into a comprehensive one-hundred-slide Powerpoint presentation that would make Dante’s Divine Comedy blush in comparison. How many endless presentations of this kind have you witnessed in your life? Uncountable during mine. And guess what, all of them were delivered to the audience through a reading session by the speaker. No added value given. What’s the point in just reading it?

Thinking about every single pixel in your presentation instead, means getting the best with much less (yet more focused) content. It means addressing your audience with carefully selected keywords that will just help the listeners concentrating on what you are saying.

Corollary to First rule: make people think (because it’s the only way to have them remember you).

_{Image by H. Michael Karshis}

I must admit, I’m not a fan of tech gadget cases. I’d rather feel my “naked” iPhone and iPad in my hands, just like Apple made them.

This said though, an iPad case could come in handy, especially if you’re often travelling and you don’t want to always carry you notebook case to protect your device. If you don’t like the iPad case Apple is offering on the official Store, take a look at these 8 fashionable alternatives. You could find something you like!

iLuv

iLuv proposes this casual iPad case, a really original shape with a nice build. This case is available in different colors – I love the white one – and it sells for $ 39.99.

HardGraft

Originality and style are the two main features of HardGraft, a case that can also be used as a support for iPad writing. Price is €75.00.

Rickshaw

Ricksaw has a really nice design going on and a multitude of colors to suit your needs $40 (original photo here).

Macally

This multi-functional folder style protective case by Macally can again be used as an helper when you want to type and write on your iPad (original photo here). Two colors here, for $49.99.

Top Upper Cow Leather Case

If you love the vintage style and naive is a word that sounds good, this Etsy case will probably find its place around your iPad. It goes for $89.

Griffin

If you’re looking for something elegant and refined Elan Sleeve by Griffin will make your case. Available at $49.99.

Dolce&Gabbana

As anticipated by Swide, Dolce&Gabbana is about to launch a branded iPad case, a real must-have for every real fashion geek. In this tweet Stefano Gabbana confirmed that the D&G case will be available starting from November. No information about the price though.

CaseMate

Last but not least, The Walkabout by CaseMate is indeed really good looking. A mix of simplicity and style where your iPad can feel safe (original photos by blakespot). The price is $79.99 and, considering the quality of the materials used, it’s really worth the money.

There you go. Do you have any other suggestion?

jQuery Visual Cheat Sheet, the refined and updated version of the popular jQuery Cheat Sheet is finally here. The new edition includes all the reference you will ever need for jQuery 1.4.2 API!

Look at the pictures on Flickr, download the PDF file, or download it from Scribd.

Download the Scribd Version

jQuery Visual Cheat Sheet 1.4.2

For a long period of my childhood I took piano lessons from a woman from Chicago. I arrived at her school almost always a good thirty minutes before the scheduled start of the lesson and I had to wait for my turn sitting in a small waiting room, where the only way to spend the remaining time was a stack of old magazines laying on a glass coffee table.

Among these though you could always find the latest copy of Time with its peculiar red edges on the front cover. It was in English obviously, so I would just browse through it and look at the pictures.

The last paper copy of Time I happened to have in my hands dates back a few years ago. From then on I only just followed the magazine’s website. A few days ago I noticed on the homepage of Time a link to the application for the iPad. I was curious to try after so many years spent reading it, so I connected to the Apple Store and downloaded it.

The App is free and it’s just over 3 megabytes therefore, unlike many other similar applications (Wired app weighing more than 500 MB, to name one), it’s easily downloadable via 3G connection. Every issue is sold at 3.99$ and the download takes no more than a couple of minutes.

The layout is flawless, it really feels like you’re browsing an improved version of the printed magazine from your iPad screen. The high resolution images and the integrated video makes reading enjoyable and extremely interesting.

The overall quality is way above standard and I admit I am tempted to purchase all the issues already available in their catalog, dating back to April 2010. Time’s App is certainly one of the best in its category and it becomes an instant must-try for every iPad owner.