[theamk]

Depending on the application. Take single-window editor (think notepad) for example. If the "load" command is blocking, what can you do?

You cannot allow editing - the existing buffer will be replaced once load completes. You can show the menu, but most options should be disabled. And it will be pretty confusing for user to see existing file remain in read-only mode after "open" command.

The most common solution if you expect loads to be slow is a modal status box which blocks entire UI, but maybe shows progress + cancel button. This definitely helps, but also a lot of extra code, which may not be warranted if usual loads are very fast.

[pests]

Well, notepad is a bad example because it has tabs now. If the load command is blocking, show an indicator of that inside the tab. The user can switch to the other tab and have a full editing experience - this buffer obviously will not be replaced.

If you pick another single-window app, my response is: that is a decision they chose to make. They can also choose to go multi-window or tabbed just like notepad did.

[nicoburns]

At the very least: allow the user to close the window or cancel the in-progress load.

[kaba0]

You still don’t block the render thread.