diff --git a/themes/default/template/mainpage_categories.tpl b/themes/default/template/mainpage_categories.tpl
index 11dce56b8..28cdf7143 100644
--- a/themes/default/template/mainpage_categories.tpl
+++ b/themes/default/template/mainpage_categories.tpl
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+{combine_script id='jquery.ajaxmanager' path='themes/default/js/plugins/jquery.ajaxmanager.js' load='footer'}
+{combine_script id='thumbnails.loader' path='themes/default/js/thumbnails.loader.js' require='jquery.ajaxmanager' load='footer'}
 {strip}{html_style}
 .thumbnailCategory .illustration{ldelim}
 	width: {$derivative_params->max_width()+5}px;
@@ -9,11 +11,12 @@
 {/html_style}{/strip}
 <ul class="thumbnailCategories">
 {foreach from=$category_thumbnails item=cat name=cat_loop}
+{assign var=derivative value=$pwg->derivative($derivative_params, $cat.representative.src_image)}
 	<li class="{if $smarty.foreach.comment_loop.index is odd}odd{else}even{/if}">
 		<div class="thumbnailCategory">
 			<div class="illustration">
 			<a href="{$cat.URL}">
-				<img src="{$pwg->derivative_url($derivative_params, $cat.representative.src_image)}" alt="{$cat.TN_ALT}" title="{$cat.NAME|@replace:'"':' '|@strip_tags:false} - {'display this album'|@translate}">
+				<img  {if $derivative->is_cached()}src="{$derivative->get_url()}"{else}src="{$ROOT_URL}{$themeconf.img_dir}/ajax-loader-small.gif" data-src="{$derivative->get_url()}"{/if} alt="{$cat.TN_ALT}" title="{$cat.NAME|@replace:'"':' '|@strip_tags:false} - {'display this album'|@translate}">
 			</a>
 			</div>
 			<div class="description">
diff --git a/themes/default/template/thumbnails.tpl b/themes/default/template/thumbnails.tpl
index 476ec5ef3..de7e88ce1 100644
--- a/themes/default/template/thumbnails.tpl
+++ b/themes/default/template/thumbnails.tpl
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
 	<span class="wrap1">
 		<span class="wrap2">
 		<a href="{$thumbnail.URL}">
-			<img class="thumbnail" {if !$derivative->is_cached()}data-{/if}src="{$derivative->get_url()}" alt="{$thumbnail.TN_ALT}" title="{$thumbnail.TN_TITLE}">
+			<img class="thumbnail" {if $derivative->is_cached()}src="{$derivative->get_url()}"{else}src="{$ROOT_URL}{$themeconf.img_dir}/ajax-loader-small.gif" data-src="{$derivative->get_url()}"{/if} alt="{$thumbnail.TN_ALT}" title="{$thumbnail.TN_TITLE}">
 		</a>
 		</span>
 		{if $SHOW_THUMBNAIL_CAPTION }