diff --git a/app/assets/images/ajax-loader-facebook.gif b/app/assets/images/ajax-loader-facebook.gif
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6350e5f4
Binary files /dev/null and b/app/assets/images/ajax-loader-facebook.gif differ
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/loader.js b/app/assets/javascripts/loader.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6fa0b525
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/loader.js
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+var Loader = { 
+  img_src: "/assets/ajax-loader.gif", 
+
+  html: 
+    function(width) { 
+      img = $("<img>");
+      img.attr("width", width);
+      img.attr("src", this.img_src);
+      return img;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/app/assets/stylesheets/projects.css.scss b/app/assets/stylesheets/projects.css.scss
index dd897ed3..f923deb2 100644
--- a/app/assets/stylesheets/projects.css.scss
+++ b/app/assets/stylesheets/projects.css.scss
@@ -581,3 +581,9 @@ h4.middle-panel {
     }
   }
 }
+
+.dashboard-loader { 
+  float:right;
+  margin-right:30px;
+  display:none;
+}
diff --git a/app/views/dashboard/_menu.html.haml b/app/views/dashboard/_menu.html.haml
index 2cb45fa7..0d04899c 100644
--- a/app/views/dashboard/_menu.html.haml
+++ b/app/views/dashboard/_menu.html.haml
@@ -2,12 +2,20 @@
   = link_to "Activities", dashboard_path, :remote => true, :class => "button-small dash-button #{"active" if current_page?(dashboard_path) || current_page?(root_path) }", :id => "activities_slide"
   = link_to "Issues", dashboard_issues_path, :remote => true, :class => "button-small dash-button #{"active" if current_page?(dashboard_issues_path)}", :id => "issues_slide"
   = link_to "Merge Requests", dashboard_merge_requests_path, :remote => true, :class => "button-small dash-button #{"active" if current_page?(dashboard_merge_requests_path)}", :id => "merge_requests_slide"
-
+  %img{:src => "/assets/ajax-loader-facebook.gif", :class => "dashboard-loader"}
 
 :javascript 
   $(function(){
     $(".dash-button").live("click", function() { 
       $(".dash-button").removeClass("active");
       $(this).addClass("active");
-    })
+    });
+
+    $(".dash-button").live("ajax:before", function() { 
+      $(".dashboard-loader").show();
+    });
+
+    $(".dash-button").live("ajax:complete", function() { 
+      $(".dashboard-loader").hide();
+    });
   });
diff --git a/app/views/refs/_tree.html.haml b/app/views/refs/_tree.html.haml
index 0c44df58..07bab212 100644
--- a/app/views/refs/_tree.html.haml
+++ b/app/views/refs/_tree.html.haml
@@ -35,11 +35,14 @@
       - contents.select{ |i| i.is_a?(Grit::Blob)}.each do |content|
         = render :partial => "refs/tree_item", :locals => { :content => content }
 
-    - if content = contents.select{ |c| c.is_a?(Grit::Blob) and c.name =~ /^readme\.(md|markdown)$/i }.first
+    - if content = contents.select{ |c| c.is_a?(Grit::Blob) and c.name =~ /^readme/i }.first
       #tree-readme-holder
         %h3= content.name
         .readme
-          = markdown(encode content.data)
+          - if content.name =~ /\.(md|markdown)$/i
+            = markdown(encode content.data)
+          - else
+            = simple_format(encode content.data)
 
 :javascript
   $(function(){