As already said in different trends (here and here) the best solution would be to install fastboot in discourse but since this is quite big task which will require more time i suggest within this issue to implement a middle-way solution which will give feedbacks to the users about the app loading even if it will be not the most useful informations.
A recent approach in the design world is the skeleton screen preloading, a blank version of a page into which information is gradually loaded, currently used by Facebook and some other important applications.
This give to the users the feeling the page is being build and avoid the frustration coming from the constant looking of loading icons.
I found two way to implement this technique:
- Pure css: http://codepen.io/basham/pen/cGJjn
- Ember Blur Up: https://github.com/Ludu/ember-blur-up (to test if work correctly with discourse)
We should anyway keep in mind that long wait time should go along with a progress loader indicator
What do you think?
Other interesting resources: