diff --git a/Nasal/canvas/gui/Menu.nas b/Nasal/canvas/gui/Menu.nas
index 51a1097e3..b74c95fff 100644
--- a/Nasal/canvas/gui/Menu.nas
+++ b/Nasal/canvas/gui/Menu.nas
@@ -153,6 +153,10 @@ gui.MenuItem = {
                 return me.update();
         },
         
+        text: func {
+                return me._text;
+        },
+
         setShortcut: func(shortcut) {
                 me._shortcut = keyboard.Shortcut.new(shortcut);
                 if (me._parent_menu != nil and me._parent_menu._canvas_item != nil and me._cb != nil) {
@@ -165,9 +169,10 @@ gui.MenuItem = {
         _setParentMenu: func(m) {
                 me._parent_menu = m;
                 if (me._parent_menu != nil and me._parent_menu._canvas_item != nil and me._cb != nil) {
-                        if (me._shortcut != nil) {
-	                        me._parent_menu._canvas_item.bindShortcut(me._shortcut, me._cb);
-                        }
+                        # fixme: add window-level shortcurt handling
+                        # if (me._shortcut != nil) {
+	                #         me._parent_menu._canvas_item.bindShortcut(me._shortcut, me._cb);
+                        # }
                         if (me._menu != nil) {
                                 for (var i = 0; i < me._menu.count(); i += 1) {
                                         me._menu.getItem(i).setCanvasItem(me._parent_menu._canvas_item);
@@ -178,7 +183,7 @@ gui.MenuItem = {
 
         setIcon: func(icon) {
                 me._icon = icon;
-                me._view.setIcon(icon);
+                me._view.setIcon(me, icon);
                 return me.update();
         },
 
@@ -190,6 +195,7 @@ gui.MenuItem = {
         update: func {
         	if (me._view != nil) {
                 	me._view.update(me);
+                        me._view._updateLayoutSizes(me);
         	}
                 return me;
         },
@@ -253,7 +259,7 @@ gui.Menu = {
                 }
                 var item = gui.MenuItem.new(me._root, me.style, {text: text, cb: cb, shortcut: shortcut, icon: icon, enabled: enabled});
                 me.addItem(item);
-                return me;
+                return item;
         },
 
         # @description Create, insert and return a `canvas.gui.MenuItem with the given text and assign the given submenu to it,
diff --git a/Nasal/canvas/gui/dialogs/WidgetsFactoryDialog.nas b/Nasal/canvas/gui/dialogs/WidgetsFactoryDialog.nas
index 30a76fdb6..6df559284 100644
--- a/Nasal/canvas/gui/dialogs/WidgetsFactoryDialog.nas
+++ b/Nasal/canvas/gui/dialogs/WidgetsFactoryDialog.nas
@@ -18,9 +18,10 @@ var WidgetsFactoryDialog = {
 		m.menubar.setCanvasItem(m.root);
 		m.menubar.createMenu("File")
 						.createItem(text: "Quit", cb: func m.del(), shortcut: "<Ctrl>+Q");
-		m.menubar.createMenu("Tabs")
-						.createItem(text: "Select first tab", cb: func m.tabs.setCurrentTab("tab-1"))
-						.createItem(text: "Select second tab", cb: func m.tabs.setCurrentTab("tab-2"));
+		var tabsMenu = m.menubar.createMenu("Tabs");
+		tabsMenu.createItem(text: "Select first tab", cb: func m.tabs.setCurrentTab("tab-1"));
+		tabsMenu.createItem(text: "Select second tab", cb: func m.tabs.setCurrentTab("tab-2"));
+		
 		m.menubar.createMenu("Widgets")
 						.createItem(text: "Benchmark label", cb: func {
 							m.benchmark_widget(canvas.gui.widgets.Label, func(w, i) {
diff --git a/Nasal/canvas/gui/styles/DefaultStyle.nas b/Nasal/canvas/gui/styles/DefaultStyle.nas
index 90ff3732a..9a563158f 100644
--- a/Nasal/canvas/gui/styles/DefaultStyle.nas
+++ b/Nasal/canvas/gui/styles/DefaultStyle.nas
@@ -911,11 +911,13 @@ DefaultStyle.widgets["menu-item"] = {
 	},
 	
 	setShortcut: func(model, shortcut) {
-		me._shortcut.setText(shortcut.repr());
+    if (shortcut != nil) {
+  		me._shortcut.setText(shortcut.repr());
+    }
 		return me._updateLayoutSizes(model);
 	},
 	
-	setIcon: func(icon) {
+	setIcon: func(model, icon) {
 		if (!icon) {
 			me._icon.hide();
 		} else {
diff --git a/Nasal/canvas/gui/widgets/MenuBar.nas b/Nasal/canvas/gui/widgets/MenuBar.nas
index 83b42d05c..0807a8784 100644
--- a/Nasal/canvas/gui/widgets/MenuBar.nas
+++ b/Nasal/canvas/gui/widgets/MenuBar.nas
@@ -44,13 +44,12 @@ gui.widgets.MenuBar = {
                         die("cannot create a submenu item without submenu");
                 }
                 var item = gui.MenuItem.new(me._view._items, style, 
-                                                {
-                                                        text: text, cb: nil, shortcut: nil, icon: nil, enabled: enabled,
-                                                        menu_position: gui.MenuItem.MenuPosition.Below,
-                                                }
+                        {
+                                text: text, cb: nil, shortcut: nil, icon: nil, enabled: enabled,
+                                menu_position: gui.MenuItem.MenuPosition.Below,
+                        }
                 );
                 item._is_menubar_item = 1;
-                item._view._updateLayoutSizes(item);
                 item._setParentMenu(me);
                 item.setMenu(menu);
                 me._layout.addItem(item);