1. An apparatus, comprising: a processor circuit on a device; a layout component operative on one or more background threads on the processor circuit to receive a plurality of layout objects associated with content for display on a display, and to calculate layout parameters describing a manner in which the content is laid out on the display for each of the plurality of layout objects, the layout parameters comprising a position of the content associated with the layout object and an amount of space used for a display of the content; a view component operative on a main thread on the processor circuit to instantiate a plurality of view objects, wherein a view object is created for and associated with each of the plurality of layout objects; and a display component operative on the main thread to create a display of a plurality of placeholders, wherein a placeholder is displayed for each of the plurality of view objects according to layout parameters of an associated view object.