I use a4j:status on the pages for displaying a modal pane with 'wait..' ...
But one strange problem appears one one page: no actionListeners are called.
Actions are used for a tree (rich:tree) nodes this way:
<a4j:commandLink rendered="#{ item.nodeType.folder }"
ajaxSingle="true"
actionListener="#{editor.editNode}"
reRender="editTree,editForm"
title="#{bundle['add_node']} #{item.properties.description} (#{item.nodeKey.stringValue})" >
<t:graphicImage value="add_node.gif" border="0" />
<f:attribute name="nodeId" value="#{item.branchId}"/>
</a4j:commandLink><a4j:status id="actionStatus"
onstart="#{rich:component('wait')}.show('',{height:'100',
width:'200'})"
onstop="#{rich:component('wait')}.hide()" />