diff --git a/client/css/main.styl b/client/css/main.styl
index 31b04fd4..a22d0f6a 100644
--- a/client/css/main.styl
+++ b/client/css/main.styl
@@ -177,6 +177,10 @@ a .access-key
         height: 100%
     width: 20px
     height: 20px
+    &.empty
+        background-image: url('/img/transparency_grid.png')
+        background-repeat: repeat
+        background-size: initial
 
 .flexbox-dummy
     height: 0 !important
diff --git a/client/js/util/views.js b/client/js/util/views.js
index 1887cd39..ad2eb845 100644
--- a/client/js/util/views.js
+++ b/client/js/util/views.js
@@ -42,10 +42,12 @@ function makeRelativeTime(time) {
 function makeThumbnail(url) {
     return makeNonVoidElement(
         'span',
-        {
-            class: 'thumbnail',
-            style: `background-image: url(\'${url}\')`,
-        },
+        url ?
+            {
+                class: 'thumbnail',
+                style: `background-image: url(\'${url}\')`,
+            } :
+            {class: 'thumbnail empty'},
         makeVoidElement('img', {alt: 'thumbnail', src: url}));
 }