diff --git a/arches/app/media/css/arches.css b/arches/app/media/css/arches.css
index b520e96d2fc..d00200afbae 100644
--- a/arches/app/media/css/arches.css
+++ b/arches/app/media/css/arches.css
@@ -2803,13 +2803,15 @@ div.dropdown-menu.open {
 
 
 .loading-mask-string {
-    font-size: 45px;
+    font-size: 35px;
     font-weight: 600;
     width: 100%;
     text-align: center;
     top: 25%;
     position: absolute;
     color: #222;
+    background-color: #999;
+    z-index: 8000;
 }
 
 .graph-designer-loading-mask {
diff --git a/arches/app/templates/base-manager.htm b/arches/app/templates/base-manager.htm
index 822ca706918..9a8f59fa5f0 100644
--- a/arches/app/templates/base-manager.htm
+++ b/arches/app/templates/base-manager.htm
@@ -199,7 +199,7 @@ <h5 class="hidden-xs">{% trans "Welcome" %}, {{ user.first_name|default:user.use
                         </div>
 
                         <!-- help content loaded from contextually referenced template -->
-                        <div class="ep-help-body" style="float:left" data-bind="css: {'loading-mask': helploading()}">
+                        <div class="ep-help-body" style="float:left; background-color:blue" data-bind="css: {'loading-mask': helploading()}">
                             <!-- content gets inserted into this div -->
                             <div class="ep-help-content"></div>
                             <hr>
diff --git a/arches/app/templates/base.htm b/arches/app/templates/base.htm
index d3167011689..c47b8b977a2 100644
--- a/arches/app/templates/base.htm
+++ b/arches/app/templates/base.htm
@@ -49,15 +49,12 @@
 <body {% block body_attributes %}class="scroll-y-auto"{% endblock %}>
     {% block loading_mask %}
 
-    <!--ko if: typeof loading() === "boolean" -->
-    <div class="loading-mask" data-bind="visible: loading()"></div>
-    <!--/ko-->
+    <div class="loading-mask" data-bind="visible: typeof(loading()) === 'boolean' && loading()"></div>
 
-    <!--ko if: typeof loading() === "string" -->
-    <div class="loading-mask" data-bind="visible: loading()">
+    <div class="loading-mask" style="display: none;" data-bind="visible: typeof(loading()==='string') && loading().length > 0">
         <div class="loading-mask-string" data-bind="text: loading"></div>
     </div>
-    <!--/ko-->
+
 
     {% endblock loading_mask %}
     {% block body %}
