I've been thinking about the relative inflexibility of the current wait image
system.

Currently it is an image that is specified, that is loaded up in a layer when
the map or other things are taking some time.

Would a template based widget be more flexible.  That way anything could be used
as the wait indicator... including the current animated gif.

I may be mixing my ideas, but I was thinking if it was like other popups, we
could also use html, and the MLT so that the wait image could be easily
translatable.  also, we could pass "label" as a property, so that different
widgets that need wait images could have their own appropriate messages without
creating a whole bunch of wait images.

The basic template I have in mind would essentially look like the existing
waitimage, but just have the spinner itself as the animated gif, and do the rest
in html.

so the issues I'm addressing are:
1) flexibility in end application design
2) ease of translation

not sure if we can have both ;)