diff --git a/common/content/events.js b/common/content/events.js
index 730ec02f..2134b214 100644
--- a/common/content/events.js
+++ b/common/content/events.js
@@ -298,8 +298,6 @@ function Events() //{{{
             {
                 // TODO: is all of that necessary?
                 modes.reset();
-                commandline.clear();
-                modes.show();
                 statusline.updateTabCount();
                 tabs.updateSelectionHistory();
 
@@ -1179,7 +1177,6 @@ function Events() //{{{
                             selection.collapseToStart();
                         }
                         catch (e) {}
-                        commandline.clear();
 
                         modes.reset();
                         liberator.focusContent(true);
diff --git a/common/content/liberator.js b/common/content/liberator.js
index af1aa88b..70d4bbfd 100644
--- a/common/content/liberator.js
+++ b/common/content/liberator.js
@@ -1215,6 +1215,8 @@ const liberator = (function () //{{{
             config.dialogs = config.dialogs || [];
             config.helpFiles = config.helpFiles || [];
 
+            liberator.triggerObserver("load");
+
             // commands must always be the first module to be initialized
             loadModule("commands",     Commands);
             loadModule("options",      Options);
diff --git a/common/content/liberator.xul b/common/content/liberator.xul
index fe7c63a7..3be74c0b 100644
--- a/common/content/liberator.xul
+++ b/common/content/liberator.xul
@@ -79,13 +79,16 @@ the terms of any one of the MPL, the GPL or the LGPL.
                 onclick="liberator.modules.commandline.onMultilineOutputEvent(event)"/>
         </vbox>
 
-        <hbox id="liberator-commandline" hidden="false" liberator:highlight="Normal">
-            <label class="plain" id="liberator-commandline-prompt"  flex="0" crop="end" value="" collapsed="true"/>
-            <textbox class="plain" id="liberator-commandline-command" flex="1" type="timed" timeout="100"
-                oninput="liberator.modules.commandline.onEvent(event);"
-                onfocus="liberator.modules.commandline.onEvent(event);"
-                onblur="liberator.modules.commandline.onEvent(event);"/>
-        </hbox>
+        <stack orient="horizontal" align="stretch" class="liberator-container" liberator:highlight="CmdLine">
+            <textbox class="plain" id="liberator-message" flex="1" readonly="true" liberator:highlight="Normal"/>
+            <hbox id="liberator-commandline" hidden="false" class="liberator-container" liberator:highlight="Normal">
+                <label class="plain" id="liberator-commandline-prompt"  flex="0" crop="end" value="" collapsed="true"/>
+                <textbox class="plain" id="liberator-commandline-command" flex="1" type="timed" timeout="100"
+                    oninput="liberator.modules.commandline.onEvent(event);"
+                    onfocus="liberator.modules.commandline.onEvent(event);"
+                    onblur="liberator.modules.commandline.onEvent(event);"/>
+            </hbox>
+        </stack>
 
         <vbox class="liberator-container" hidden="false" collapsed="false">
             <textbox id="liberator-multiline-input" class="plain" flex="1" rows="1" hidden="false" collapsed="true" multiline="true"
diff --git a/common/content/modes.js b/common/content/modes.js
index 15b23dd7..e5592d08 100644
--- a/common/content/modes.js
+++ b/common/content/modes.js
@@ -159,12 +159,7 @@ const modes = (function () //{{{
             if (!options["showmode"])
                 return;
 
-            // never show mode messages if we are in command line mode
-            if (main == modes.COMMAND_LINE)
-                return;
-
-            commandline.echo(getModeMessage(), commandline.HL_MODEMSG,
-                                        commandline.DISALLOW_MULTILINE);
+            commandline.echo(getModeMessage(), "ModeMsg");
         },
 
         // add/remove always work on the extended mode only
@@ -178,6 +173,7 @@ const modes = (function () //{{{
         // if silent == true, you also need to take care of the mode handling changes yourself
         set: function (mainMode, extendedMode, silent)
         {
+            silent = (silent || main == mainMode && extended == extendedMode);
             // if a main mode is set, the extended is always cleared
             if (typeof mainMode === "number")
             {
diff --git a/common/content/style.js b/common/content/style.js
index ca9f19cd..e4bcf196 100644
--- a/common/content/style.js
+++ b/common/content/style.js
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@ Highlights.prototype.CSS = <![CDATA[
     NonText     color: blue; min-height: 16px; padding-left: 2px;
     Preview     color: gray;
 
+    CmdLine     font-family: monospace; padding: 1px;
+
     CompGroup
     CompGroup:not(:first-of-type) margin-top: .5em;
     CompTitle          color: magenta; background: white; font-weight: bold;
diff --git a/common/content/ui.js b/common/content/ui.js
index 43498d80..22c6fb4b 100644
--- a/common/content/ui.js
+++ b/common/content/ui.js
@@ -430,7 +430,11 @@ function CommandLine() //{{{
     // the command bar which contains the current command
     const commandWidget = document.getElementById("liberator-commandline-command");
 
+
+    const messageBox = document.getElementById("liberator-message");
+
     commandWidget.inputField.QueryInterface(Components.interfaces.nsIDOMNSEditableElement);
+    messageBox.inputField.QueryInterface(Components.interfaces.nsIDOMNSEditableElement);
 
     // the widget used for multiline output
     const multilineOutputWidget = document.getElementById("liberator-multiline-output");
@@ -454,9 +458,13 @@ function CommandLine() //{{{
 
     function setHighlightGroup(group)
     {
-        commandlineWidget.setAttributeNS(NS.uri, "highlight", group);
+        messageBox.setAttributeNS(NS.uri, "highlight", group);
     }
 
+    function commandShown() modes.main == modes.COMMAND_LINE &&
+            !(modes.extended & modes.INPUT_MULTILINE) &&
+            !(modes.extended & modes.OUTPUT_MULTILINE);
+
     // sets the prompt - for example, : or /
     function setPrompt(pmt, highlightGroup)
     {
@@ -483,15 +491,16 @@ function CommandLine() //{{{
     function setLine(str, highlightGroup, forceSingle)
     {
         setHighlightGroup(highlightGroup);
-        setPrompt("");
-        setCommand(str);
-        if (!forceSingle &&
-            commandWidget.inputField.editor.rootElement
-                         .scrollWidth > commandWidget.inputField.scrollWidth)
-        {
-            setCommand("");
+        messageBox.value = str;
+
+        if (!commandShown())
+            commandline.hide();
+
+        let field = messageBox.inputField;
+        if (!forceSingle && field.editor.rootElement.scrollWidth > field.scrollWidth)
             setMultiline(<span highlight="Message">{str}</span>, highlightGroup);
-        }
+        else
+            messageBox.collapsed = false;
     }
 
     // TODO: extract CSS
@@ -847,9 +856,10 @@ function CommandLine() //{{{
             historyIndex = UNINITIALIZED;
 
             modes.set(modes.COMMAND_LINE, currentExtendedMode);
-            setHighlightGroup(this.HL_NORMAL);
+
             setPrompt(currentPrompt);
             setCommand(currentCommand);
+            commandlineWidget.collapsed = false;
 
             commandWidget.focus();
 
@@ -873,19 +883,19 @@ function CommandLine() //{{{
             statusline.updateProgress(""); // we may have a "match x of y" visible
             liberator.focusContent(false);
 
-            this.clear();
-            keepCommand = false;
-        },
-
-        clear: function clear()
-        {
             multilineInputWidget.collapsed = true;
             outputContainer.collapsed = true;
             completionList.hide();
             this.resetCompletions();
 
+            this.hide();
+            keepCommand = false;
+        },
+
+        hide: function hide()
+        {
             if (!keepCommand || this.silent)
-                setLine("", this.HL_NORMAL);
+                commandlineWidget.collapsed = true;
         },
 
         // liberator.echo uses different order of flags as it omits the hightlight group, change v.commandline.echo argument order? --mst
@@ -975,13 +985,8 @@ function CommandLine() //{{{
             {
                 // prevent losing focus, there should be a better way, but it just didn't work otherwise
                 setTimeout(function () {
-                    if (liberator.mode == modes.COMMAND_LINE &&
-                        !(modes.extended & modes.INPUT_MULTILINE) &&
-                        !(modes.extended & modes.OUTPUT_MULTILINE) &&
-                        event.originalTarget == commandWidget.inputField)
-                    {
+                    if (commandShown() && event.originalTarget == commandWidget.inputField)
                         commandWidget.inputField.focus();
-                    }
                 }, 0);
             }
             else if (event.type == "focus")
@@ -1339,9 +1344,7 @@ function CommandLine() //{{{
 
             if (passEvent || closeWindow)
             {
-                // FIXME: use mode stack
                 modes.pop();
-                this.clear();
 
                 if (passEvent)
                     events.onKeyPress(event);
@@ -1354,10 +1357,6 @@ function CommandLine() //{{{
 
         updateMorePrompt: function updateMorePrompt(force, showHelp)
         {
-            // prevent MOW events (still useful) from wiping out the command-line when in EX extended mode
-            if (modes.extended != modes.OUTPUT_MULTILINE)
-                return;
-
             let win = multilineOutputWidget.contentWindow;
             function isScrollable() !win.scrollMaxY == 0;
             function atEnd() win.scrollY / win.scrollMaxY >= 1;
diff --git a/common/skin/liberator.css b/common/skin/liberator.css
index c892b45e..8274778e 100644
--- a/common/skin/liberator.css
+++ b/common/skin/liberator.css
@@ -96,8 +96,8 @@ the terms of any one of the MPL, the GPL or the LGPL.
 @-moz-document 
     url-prefix(chrome://) {
 
-#liberator-container  {
-    font-family: monospace;
+.liberator-container > * {
+    font-family: inherit;
 }
 
 #liberator-completions {
@@ -108,13 +108,15 @@ the terms of any one of the MPL, the GPL or the LGPL.
 }
 
 /* fixes the min-height: 22px from firefox */
-#status-bar, statusbarpanel {
+#status-bar,
+statusbarpanel {
     -moz-appearance: none !important;
 	min-height: 18px !important;
     border: none !important;
     font-weight: bold;
     font-family: monospace;
 }
+
 #liberator-statusline {
     font-family: monospace;
     margin: 0px;
@@ -138,14 +140,6 @@ the terms of any one of the MPL, the GPL or the LGPL.
     display: none;
 }
 
-#liberator-commandline {
-    padding: 1px;
-    font-family: monospace;
-    /*
-    background-color: white;
-    color: black;
-    */
-}
 #liberator-commandline-prompt {
     margin: 0px;
     padding: 0px;
@@ -156,11 +150,6 @@ the terms of any one of the MPL, the GPL or the LGPL.
     color: inherit;
 }
 
-#liberator-visualbell {
-    border: none;
-    background-color: black;
-}
-
 #sidebar {
     max-width: 90% !important;
     min-width: 10% !important;
@@ -168,29 +157,37 @@ the terms of any one of the MPL, the GPL or the LGPL.
 
 /* MOW */
 
-#liberator-completions, #liberator-multiline-output, #liberator-multiline-input {
+#liberator-completions,
+#liberator-multiline-output,
+#liberator-multiline-input {
     overflow: hidden;
     background-color: white;
     color: black;
 }
 
-#liberator-completions-content, #liberator-multiline-output-content, #liberator-multiline-input {
+#liberator-completions-content,
+#liberator-multiline-output-content,
+#liberator-multiline-input {
     white-space: pre;
     font-family: -moz-fixed;
     margin: 0px;
 }
 
-#liberator-completions-content *, #liberator-multiline-output-content * {
+#liberator-completions-content *,
+#liberator-multiline-output-content * {
     font: inherit;
 }
 
-#liberator-completions-content table, #liberator-multiline-output-content table {
+#liberator-completions-content table,
+#liberator-multiline-output-content table {
     white-space: inherit;
     border-spacing: 0px;
 }
 
-#liberator-completions-content td, #liberator-multiline-output-content td,
-#liberator-completions-content th, #liberator-multiline-output-content th {
+#liberator-completions-content td,
+#liberator-multiline-output-content td,
+#liberator-completions-content th,
+#liberator-multiline-output-content th {
     padding: 0px 2px;
 }