Hi! I recently upgraded our site to “Discourse v2026.5.0-latest — Commits · discourse/discourse · GitHub — Ember v6.10.1”. It has lots of cool improvements. However, I noticed that it has also started showing the blue dots splash screen on page load: [image] I can’t find the setting to disable th…

Yes, we recently removed the setting to disable this splash screen. The setting was originally added when the feature was experimental, but it’s been stable for years now. Disabling the splash screen actually can result in a worse core web vitals score (a factor in Google rankings), so it was a bit…

[image] GaurangBlaze: However, I noticed that it has also started showing the blue dots splash screen on page load: Wow. This was added in 2022, nearly 4 years ago now. You should really be better about updating your site, generally healthy sites are updated every 2-3 weeks… [ima…

Hi @darkpixlz I update my forum every four weeks :slightly_smiling_face: It’s a little unexpected. Maybe I’m just noticing the Discourse Splash now or it is showing for longer in recent days.

I would still like to hide the dots, because they make the site look slower even if nothing’s changed. I’m wondering if editing the theme CSS is the right way to achieve this. I’m not sure if the theme CSS will be applied at that early loading stage.

[image] GaurangBlaze: splash_screen_image This setting is to replace the blue dots with a cistom loading animations. You could tecnically replace it with something empty, but it might then not provide any indication that the page is loading to your users.

[image] darkpixlz: generally healthy sites are updated every 2-3 weeks… [Man Presses Citation Needed Button] [image] awesomerobot: Here’s a zip containing a transparent animated SVG, if it’s helpful blank-animated.svg.zip (1 KB) Oh good idea!

I’d say generally healthy sites are updated when the dashboard emoji becomes red :face_with_tongue:

[image] awesomerobot: we recently removed the setting to disable this splash screen Thanks for confirming! I’m glad I wasn’t misremembering this :smiley: As per your suggestion, I will monitor our site’s core web vitals score over the coming weeks to understand the impact of the loading indic…

How to disable "preloader-image" on Discourse instance?

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Falco (Falco) May 8, 2026, 6:00pm 7

Man Presses Citation Needed Button

Oh good idea!

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Personal branding for the splash screen Feature completed , splash	9	746	February 4, 2026
Introducing Discourse Splash - A visual preloader displayed while site assets load Announcements new-feature , splash	30	6662	October 9, 2023
Change loading animation Support splash	2	218	February 4, 2026
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How to disable "preloader-image" on Discourse instance?

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