diff --git a/apps/openmw/mwgui/messagebox.cpp b/apps/openmw/mwgui/messagebox.cpp
index 8486218f0..671845552 100644
--- a/apps/openmw/mwgui/messagebox.cpp
+++ b/apps/openmw/mwgui/messagebox.cpp
@@ -141,7 +141,6 @@ namespace MWGui
       , mMaxTime(0)
     {
         // defines
-        mFixedWidth = 300;
         mBottomPadding = 20;
         mNextBoxPadding = 20;
 
@@ -149,41 +148,21 @@ namespace MWGui
 
         mMessageWidget->setOverflowToTheLeft(true);
         mMessageWidget->setCaptionWithReplacing(mMessage);
-
-        MyGUI::IntSize size;
-        size.width = mFixedWidth;
-        size.height = 100; // dummy
-
-        mMessageWidget->setSize(size);
-
-        MyGUI::IntSize textSize = mMessageWidget->getTextSize();
-
-        size.height = mHeight = textSize.height + 20; // this is the padding between the text and the box
-
-        mMainWidget->setSize(size);
-        size.width -= 15; // this is to center the text (see messagebox.layout, Widget type="Edit" position="-2 -3 0 0")
-        mMessageWidget->setSize(size);
     }
 
     void MessageBox::update (int height)
     {
         MyGUI::IntSize gameWindowSize = MyGUI::RenderManager::getInstance().getViewSize();
-        MyGUI::IntCoord coord;
-        coord.left = (gameWindowSize.width - mFixedWidth)/2;
-        coord.top = (gameWindowSize.height - mHeight - height - mBottomPadding);
-
-        MyGUI::IntSize size;
-        size.width = mFixedWidth;
-        size.height = mHeight;
+        MyGUI::IntPoint pos;
+        pos.left = (gameWindowSize.width - mMainWidget->getWidth())/2;
+        pos.top = (gameWindowSize.height - mMainWidget->getHeight() - height - mBottomPadding);
 
-        mMainWidget->setCoord(coord);
-        mMainWidget->setSize(size);
-        mMainWidget->setVisible(true);
+        mMainWidget->setPosition(pos);
     }
 
     int MessageBox::getHeight ()
     {
-        return mHeight+mNextBoxPadding; // 20 is the padding between this and the next MessageBox
+        return mMainWidget->getHeight()+mNextBoxPadding; // 20 is the padding between this and the next MessageBox
     }
 
 
diff --git a/apps/openmw/mwgui/messagebox.hpp b/apps/openmw/mwgui/messagebox.hpp
index ce3a85ab3..aac4704fa 100644
--- a/apps/openmw/mwgui/messagebox.hpp
+++ b/apps/openmw/mwgui/messagebox.hpp
@@ -63,10 +63,8 @@ namespace MWGui
 
         protected:
             MessageBoxManager& mMessageBoxManager;
-            int mHeight;
             const std::string& mMessage;
             MyGUI::EditBox* mMessageWidget;
-            int mFixedWidth;
             int mBottomPadding;
             int mNextBoxPadding;
     };
diff --git a/files/mygui/openmw_messagebox.layout b/files/mygui/openmw_messagebox.layout
index dfdb57648..b2d29271b 100644
--- a/files/mygui/openmw_messagebox.layout
+++ b/files/mygui/openmw_messagebox.layout
@@ -1,11 +1,11 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 
 <MyGUI type="Layout">
-    <!--Widget type="Window" skin="MW_Dialog" layer="Windows" position="0 0 0 0" name="_Main">
-        <Widget type="TextBox" skin="TextBox" position="4 4 4 4" name="message"/>
-    </Widget-->
-    <Widget type="Window" skin="MW_Dialog" layer="Notification" position="0 0 0 0" name="_Main">
-        <Widget type="EditBox" skin="MW_TextEditClient" position="5 -5 0 0" name="message" align="Left Top Stretch">
+    <Widget type="VBox" skin="MW_Dialog" layer="Notification" position="0 0 0 0" name="_Main">
+        <Property key="Padding" value="10"/>
+        <Property key="AutoResize" value="true"/>
+
+        <Widget type="AutoSizedEditBox" skin="MW_TextEditClient" position="0 0 300 0" name="message" align="Left Top">
             <Property key="FontName" value="Default"/>
             <Property key="TextAlign" value="Center"/>
             <Property key="TextColour" value="0.75 0.6 0.35"/>