UI Tabs - spinner fails when using custom HTML

UI Tabs - spinner fails when using custom HTML

<div dir="ltr">Hi,
1. when trying to include some HTML in the spinner setting, it fails to remove the spinner after the tab panel is loaded.
Example:
spinner: '<span>custom loading</span>'
or
spinner: '<img src="/images/my-spinner.gif" alt="loading" />'
Maybe HTML can't be used inside the spinner, although the UI Tabs docs say [1]:
<div style="margin-left: 40px;">
"The HTML content of this string is shown in a tab title while remote
content is loading. Pass in empty string to deactivate that behavior."
</div>
2. Is there a way to access the temporary variable where the tab text is saved during the tab panel loading process?
Thanks.
[1] <a href="http://docs.jquery.com/UI/Tabs/tabs#options">http://docs.jquery.com/UI/Tabs/tabs#options</a></div>