diff --git a/common/content/abbreviations.js b/common/content/abbreviations.js
index f2171090..8e1847eb 100644
--- a/common/content/abbreviations.js
+++ b/common/content/abbreviations.js
@@ -15,9 +15,7 @@ const Abbreviation = Class("Abbreviation", {
         this.rhs = rhs;
     },
 
-    equals: function (other) {
-        return this.lhs == other.lhs && this.rhs == other.rhs;
-    },
+    equals: function (other) this.lhs == other.lhs && this.rhs == other.rhs,
 
     expand: function (editor) String(callable(this.rhs) ? this.rhs(editor) : this.rhs),
 
diff --git a/common/content/commandline.js b/common/content/commandline.js
index 8d23dc27..c4c0b055 100644
--- a/common/content/commandline.js
+++ b/common/content/commandline.js
@@ -19,8 +19,12 @@ const CommandWidgets = Class("CommandWidgets", {
         this.addElem({
             name: "commandline",
             getGroup: function () options.get("guioptions").has("C") ? this.commandbar : this.statusbar,
-            getValue: function () this.command,
-            noValue: true,
+            getValue: function () this.command
+        });
+        this.addElem({
+            name: "strut",
+            getGroup: function () this.commandbar,
+            getValue: function () options.get("guioptions").has("c")
         });
         this.addElem({
             name: "command",
@@ -85,7 +89,7 @@ const CommandWidgets = Class("CommandWidgets", {
         memoize(this.statusbar, obj.name, function () get("dactyl-statusline-field-" + (obj.id || obj.name)));
         memoize(this.commandbar, obj.name, function () get("dactyl-" + (obj.id || obj.name)));
 
-        if (!obj.noValue)
+        if (!(obj.noValue || obj.getValue))
             Object.defineProperty(this, obj.name, Modes.boundProperty({
                 get: function () {
                     let elem = self.getGroup(obj.name, obj.value)[obj.name];
@@ -543,7 +547,7 @@ const CommandLine = Module("commandline", {
             this.hide();
 
         let field = this.widgets.active.message.inputField;
-        if (!forceSingle && field.editor.rootElement.scrollWidth > field.scrollWidth) {
+        if (field.value && !forceSingle && field.editor.rootElement.scrollWidth > field.scrollWidth) {
             this.widgets.message = null;
             this._echoMultiline(<span highlight="Message">{str}</span>, highlightGroup);
         }
@@ -658,7 +662,7 @@ const CommandLine = Module("commandline", {
                 this._echoMultiline(<span highlight="Message">{this._lastEcho}</span>,
                                     this.widgets.message[0]);
 
-            if (action == this._echoLine && !(flags & this.FORCE_MULTILINE) && !this.widgets.mowContainer.collapsed) {
+            if (action === this._echoLine && !(flags & this.FORCE_MULTILINE) && !this.widgets.mowContainer.collapsed) {
                 highlightGroup += " Message";
                 action = this._echoMultiline;
             }
diff --git a/common/content/configbase.js b/common/content/configbase.js
index c4f9f9ee..39985283 100644
--- a/common/content/configbase.js
+++ b/common/content/configbase.js
@@ -185,7 +185,7 @@ const ConfigBase = Class(ModuleBase, {
         StatusInfoMsg     color: inherit !important; background: inherit !important;
         LineNr            color: orange  !important; background: white   !important;
         ModeMsg           color: black   !important; background: white   !important;
-        StatusModeMsg     color: inherit !important; background: inherit !important;
+        StatusModeMsg     color: inherit !important; background: inherit !important; padding-right: 1em;
         MoreMsg           color: green   !important; background: white   !important;
         StatusMoreMsg                                background: inherit !important;
         Message           white-space: normal; min-width: 100%; padding-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em; display: block;
diff --git a/common/content/dactyl.js b/common/content/dactyl.js
index ae0a55b6..ad013588 100644
--- a/common/content/dactyl.js
+++ b/common/content/dactyl.js
@@ -1127,8 +1127,9 @@ const Dactyl = Module("dactyl", {
         const groups = {
             commandline: {
                 opts: {
-                    M: ["Always show messages outside of the status line"],
+                    c: ["Always show the command-line, even when empty"],
                     C: ["Always show the command-line outside of the status line"],
+                    M: ["Always show messages outside of the status line"]
                 },
                 setter: function (opts) {
                     commandline.widgets.updateVisibility();
diff --git a/common/content/dactyl.xul b/common/content/dactyl.xul
index e52ce6ff..b8054aef 100644
--- a/common/content/dactyl.xul
+++ b/common/content/dactyl.xul
@@ -83,6 +83,7 @@
         </vbox>
 
         <stack orient="horizontal" align="stretch" class="dactyl-container" id="dactyl-container" dactyl:highlight="CmdLine CmdCmdLine">
+            <textbox class="plain" id="dactyl-strut"   flex="1" crop="end" collapsed="true"/>
             <textbox class="plain" id="dactyl-mode"    flex="1" crop="end"/>
             <textbox class="plain" id="dactyl-message" flex="1" readonly="true"/>
 
@@ -106,9 +107,13 @@
         <hbox insertbefore="&dactyl.statusBefore;" insertafter="&dactyl.statusAfter;"
               style="background: inherit;" id="&status;container" flex="1" hidden="false" align="center">
             <stack orient="horizontal" align="stretch"      flex="1" class="dactyl-container" dactyl:highlight="CmdLine StatusCmdLine">
-                <textbox class="plain" id="&status;url"     flex="1" readonly="true" crop="end"/>
-                <label   class="plain" id="&status;mode"    flex="1"                 crop="end" collapsed="true"/>
-                <textbox class="plain" id="&status;message" flex="1" readonly="true" crop="end" collapsed="true" dactyl:highlight="Normal StatusNormal"/>
+                <hbox class="dactyl-container" dactyl:highlight="CmdLine StatusCmdLine">
+                    <label class="plain" id="&status;mode"          crop="end" collapsed="true"/>
+                    <stack flex="1" class="dactyl-container" dactyl:highlight="CmdLine StatusCmdLine">
+                        <textbox class="plain" id="&status;url"     crop="end" flex="1" readonly="true"/>
+                        <textbox class="plain" id="&status;message" crop="end" flex="1" readonly="true" dactyl:highlight="Normal StatusNormal"/>
+                    </stack>
+                </hbox>
 
                 <hbox id="&status;commandline" hidden="false" class="dactyl-container" dactyl:highlight="Normal StatusNormal" collapsed="true">
                     <label id="&status;commandline-prompt"    class="dactyl-commandline-prompt  plain" flex="0" crop="end" value="" collapsed="true"/>
diff --git a/common/locale/en-US/options.xml b/common/locale/en-US/options.xml
index db8b69fc..06adc555 100644
--- a/common/locale/en-US/options.xml
+++ b/common/locale/en-US/options.xml
@@ -637,6 +637,7 @@
             <dt>N</dt>      <dd>Tab number over image</dd>
             <dt>T</dt>      <dd>Toolbar</dd>
             <dt>b</dt>      <dd>Bottom scrollbar</dd>
+            <dt>c</dt>      <dd>Always show messages outside of the status line</dd>
             <dt>l</dt>      <dd>Left scrollbar (<em>l</em> and <em>r</em> are mutually exclusive)</dd>
             <dt>m</dt>      <dd>Menu bar</dd>
             <dt>n</dt>      <dd>Tab number</dd>
diff --git a/common/skin/dactyl.css b/common/skin/dactyl.css
index 575dd3d2..cbfc8f0e 100644
--- a/common/skin/dactyl.css
+++ b/common/skin/dactyl.css
@@ -77,6 +77,10 @@
     background: inherit;
     color: inherit;
 }
+[dactyl|highlight~=CmdLine],
+[dactyl|highlight~=CmdLine] > [dactyl|highlight~=CmdLine] {
+    padding: 0px !important;
+}
 
 label[collapsed=true] {
     height: 0px;
diff --git a/pentadactyl/NEWS b/pentadactyl/NEWS
index 123ff537..57f59f4b 100644
--- a/pentadactyl/NEWS
+++ b/pentadactyl/NEWS
@@ -18,13 +18,14 @@
       - Backtracks to the first successful match after pressing
         backspace.
       - Supports reverse incremental search.
+      - Input boxes are not focused when matches are highlighted.
     * Ex command parsing improvements, including:
       - Multiple Ex commands may now be separated by |
       - Commands can continue over multiple lines in RC files by
         prefixing the continuation lines with a \
       - The \ character is no longer treated specially within single
         quotes, i.e., 'fo\o''bar' ⇒ fo\o'bar
-    * Command line is now hidden by default. Added C and M to
+    * Command line is now hidden by default. Added c, C, and M to
       'guioptions'.
     * Hint mode improvements, including:
       - Added g; continued extended hint mode, which allows