diff --git a/Nasal/canvas/gui/Widget.nas b/Nasal/canvas/gui/Widget.nas
index d852cdc10..0ec18e096 100644
--- a/Nasal/canvas/gui/Widget.nas
+++ b/Nasal/canvas/gui/Widget.nas
@@ -122,7 +122,11 @@ gui.Widget = {
   },
 # protected:
   _MAX_SIZE: 32768, # size for "no size-limit"
-  _onStateChange: func {},
+  _onStateChange: func
+  {
+    if( me._view != nil and me._view.update != nil )
+      me._view.update(me);
+  },
   _setView: func(view)
   {
     me._view = view;
diff --git a/Nasal/canvas/gui/dialogs/MessageBox.nas b/Nasal/canvas/gui/dialogs/MessageBox.nas
index 8b0ae1dc9..76e6065d3 100644
--- a/Nasal/canvas/gui/dialogs/MessageBox.nas
+++ b/Nasal/canvas/gui/dialogs/MessageBox.nas
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ var MessageBox = {
 
     vbox.addSpacing(MARGIN);
 
-    var w = vbox.sizeHint()[0];
+    var w = math.max(300, vbox.sizeHint()[0]);
     dlg.setSize(w, math.max(130, vbox.heightForWidth(w)));
 
     return me;
diff --git a/Nasal/canvas/gui/styles/DefaultStyle.nas b/Nasal/canvas/gui/styles/DefaultStyle.nas
index 22ee8bbbc..8291c18ce 100644
--- a/Nasal/canvas/gui/styles/DefaultStyle.nas
+++ b/Nasal/canvas/gui/styles/DefaultStyle.nas
@@ -203,22 +203,28 @@ DefaultStyle.widgets.label = {
     }
 
     me._createElement("text", "text")
-      .set("text", text)
-      .set("fill", "black");
+      .set("text", text);
+
+    var hfw_func = nil;
+    var min_width = me._text.maxWidth() + 4;
+    var width_hint = min_width;
 
     if( model._cfg.get("wordWrap", 0) )
     {
       var m = me;
-      model.setHeightForWidthFunc(func(w) m.heightForWidth(w));
-    }
-    else
-    {
-      var min_width = me._text.maxWidth() + 4;
-      model.setMinimumSize([min_width, 14]);
-      model.setSizeHint([min_width, 24]);
+      hfw_func = func(w) m.heightForWidth(w);
+      min_width = math.min(32, min_width);
+
+      # prefer approximately quadratic text blocks
+      if( width_hint > 24 )
+        width_hint = int(math.sqrt(width_hint * 24));
     }
 
-    return me;
+    model.setHeightForWidthFunc(hfw_func);
+    model.setMinimumSize([min_width, 14]);
+    model.setSizeHint([width_hint, 24]);
+
+    return me.update(model);
   },
   setImage: func(model, img)
   {
@@ -250,6 +256,14 @@ DefaultStyle.widgets.label = {
 
     return math.max(14, me._text.heightForWidth(w - 4));
   },
+  update: func(model)
+  {
+    if( me['_text'] != nil )
+    {
+      var color_name = model._windowFocus() ? "fg_color" : "backdrop_fg_color";
+      me._text.set("fill", me._style.getColor(color_name));
+    }
+  },
 # protected:
   _createElement: func(name, type)
   {
diff --git a/Nasal/canvas/gui/widgets/Button.nas b/Nasal/canvas/gui/widgets/Button.nas
index 65429792b..c388a2aee 100644
--- a/Nasal/canvas/gui/widgets/Button.nas
+++ b/Nasal/canvas/gui/widgets/Button.nas
@@ -54,11 +54,6 @@ gui.widgets.Button = {
     return me;
   },
 # protected:
-  _onStateChange: func
-  {
-    if( me._view != nil )
-      me._view.update(me);
-  },
   _setView: func(view)
   {
     var el = view._root;