diff --git a/font.lua b/font.lua
index 5c0f3a584..ffc0bd1d1 100644
--- a/font.lua
+++ b/font.lua
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ function Font:getFace(font, size)
 		end
 		self.faces[font..size] = face
 	end
-	return { ftface = face, hash = font..size }
+	return { size = size, ftface = face, hash = font..size }
 end
 
 function Font:_readList(target, dir, effective_dir)
diff --git a/widget.lua b/widget.lua
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..aa8ba1034
--- /dev/null
+++ b/widget.lua
@@ -0,0 +1,263 @@
+require "rendertext"
+require "graphics"
+require "image"
+
+--[[
+This is a (useless) generic Widget interface
+
+widgets can be queried about their size and can be paint.
+that's it for now. Probably we need something more elaborate
+later.
+]]
+Widget = {
+	dimen = { w = 0, h = 0},
+}
+
+function Widget:new(o)
+	o = o or {}
+	setmetatable(o, self)
+	self.__index = self
+	return o
+end
+
+function Widget:getSize()
+	return self.dimen
+end
+
+function Widget:paintTo(bb, x, y)
+end
+
+function Widget:free()
+end
+
+--[[
+WidgetContainer is a container for another Widget
+]]
+WidgetContainer = Widget:new()
+
+function WidgetContainer:free()
+	for _, widget in ipairs(self) do
+		widget:free()
+	end
+end
+
+--[[
+CenterContainer centers its content (1 widget) within its own dimensions
+]]
+CenterContainer = WidgetContainer:new()
+
+function CenterContainer:paintTo(bb, x, y)
+	local contentSize = self[1]:getSize()
+	if contentSize.w > self.dimen.w or contentSize.h > self.dimen.h then
+		-- throw error?
+		return
+	end
+	self[1]:paintTo(bb,
+		x + (self.dimen.w - contentSize.w)/2,
+		y + (self.dimen.h - contentSize.h)/2)
+end
+
+--[[
+A FrameContainer is some graphics content (1 widget) that is surrounded by a frame
+]]
+FrameContainer = WidgetContainer:new({
+	background = nil,
+	color = 15,
+	margin = 0,
+	bordersize = 2,
+	padding = 5,
+})
+
+function FrameContainer:getSize()
+	local content_size = self[1]:getSize()
+	return {
+		w = content_size.w + ( self.margin + self.bordersize + self.padding ) * 2,
+		h = content_size.h + ( self.margin + self.bordersize + self.padding ) * 2
+	}
+end
+
+function FrameContainer:paintTo(bb, x, y)
+	local my_size = self:getSize()
+	
+	if self.background then
+		bb:paintRect(x, y, my_size.w, my_size.h, self.background)
+	end
+	if self.bordersize > 0 then
+		bb:paintBorder(x + self.margin, y + self.margin,
+			my_size.w - self.margin * 2, my_size.h - self.margin * 2,
+			self.bordersize, self.color)
+	end
+	self[1]:paintTo(bb,
+		x + self.margin + self.bordersize + self.padding,
+		y + self.margin + self.bordersize + self.padding)
+end
+
+--[[
+A TextWidget puts a string on a single line
+]]
+TextWidget = Widget:new({
+	text = nil,
+	face = nil,
+	color = 15,
+	_bb = nil,
+	_length = 0,
+	_maxlength = 1200,
+})
+
+function TextWidget:_render()
+	local h = self.face.size * 1.5
+	self._bb = Blitbuffer.new(self._maxlength, h)
+	self._length = renderUtf8Text(self._bb, 0, h*.7, self.face, self.text, self.color)
+end
+
+function TextWidget:getSize()
+	if not self._bb then
+		self:_render()
+	end
+	return { w = self._length, h = self._bb:getHeight() }
+end
+
+function TextWidget:paintTo(bb, x, y)
+	if not self._bb then
+		self:_render()
+	end
+	bb:blitFrom(self._bb, x, y, 0, 0, self._length, self._bb:getHeight())
+end
+
+function TextWidget:free()
+	if self._bb then
+		self._bb:free()
+		self._bb = nil
+	end
+end
+
+--[[
+ImageWidget shows an image from a file
+]]
+ImageWidget = Widget:new({
+	file = nil,
+	_bb = nil
+})
+
+function ImageWidget:_render()
+	local itype = string.lower(string.match(self.file, ".+%.([^.]+)") or "")
+	if itype == "jpeg" or itype == "jpg" then
+		self._bb = Image.fromJPEG(self.file)
+	elseif itype == "png" then
+		self._bb = Image.fromPNG(self.file)
+	end
+end
+
+function ImageWidget:getSize()
+	if not self._bb then
+		self:_render()
+	end
+	return { w = self._bb:getWidth(), h = self._bb:getHeight() }
+end
+
+function ImageWidget:paintTo(bb, x, y)
+	local size = self:getSize()
+	bb:blitFrom(self._bb, x, y, 0, 0, size.w, size.h)
+end
+
+function ImageWidget:free()
+	if self._bb then
+		self._bb:free()
+		self._bb = nil
+	end
+end
+
+--[[
+A Layout widget that puts objects besides each others
+]]
+HorizontalGroup = WidgetContainer:new({
+	align = "center",
+	_size = nil,
+})
+
+function HorizontalGroup:getSize()
+	if not self._size then
+		self._size = { w = 0, h = 0 }
+		self._offsets = { }
+		for i, widget in ipairs(self) do
+			local w_size = widget:getSize()
+			self._offsets[i] = {
+				x = self._size.w,
+				y = w_size.h
+			}
+			self._size.w = self._size.w + w_size.w
+			if w_size.h > self._size.h then
+				self._size.h = w_size.h
+			end
+		end
+	end
+	return self._size
+end
+
+function HorizontalGroup:paintTo(bb, x, y)
+	local size = self:getSize()
+	
+	for i, widget in ipairs(self) do
+		if self.align == "center" then
+			widget:paintTo(bb, x + self._offsets[i].x, y + (size.h - self._offsets[i].y) / 2)
+		elseif self.align == "top" then
+			widget:paintTo(bb, x + self._offsets[i].x, y)
+		elseif self.align == "bottom" then
+			widget:paintTo(bb, x + self._offsets[i].x, y + size.h - self._offsets[i].y)
+		end
+	end
+end
+
+function HorizontalGroup:free()
+	self._size = nil
+	self._offsets = {}
+	WidgetContainer.free(self)
+end
+
+--[[
+A Layout widget that puts objects under each other
+]]
+VerticalGroup = WidgetContainer:new({
+	align = "center",
+	_size = nil,
+	_offsets = {}
+})
+
+function VerticalGroup:getSize()
+	if not self._size then
+		self._size = { w = 0, h = 0 }
+		self._offsets = { }
+		for i, widget in ipairs(self) do
+			local w_size = widget:getSize()
+			self._offsets[i] = {
+				x = w_size.w,
+				y = self._size.h,
+			}
+			self._size.h = self._size.h + w_size.h
+			if w_size.w > self._size.w then
+				self._size.w = w_size.w
+			end
+		end
+	end
+	return self._size
+end
+
+function VerticalGroup:paintTo(bb, x, y)
+	local size = self:getSize()
+	
+	for i, widget in ipairs(self) do
+		if self.align == "center" then
+			widget:paintTo(bb, x + (size.w - self._offsets[i].x) / 2, y + self._offsets[i].y)
+		elseif self.align == "left" then
+			widget:paintTo(bb, x, y + self._offsets[i].y)
+		elseif self.align == "right" then
+			widget:paintTo(bb, x + size.w - self._offsets[i].x, y + self._offsets[i].y)
+		end
+	end
+end
+
+function VerticalGroup:free()
+	self._size = nil
+	self._offsets = {}
+	WidgetContainer.free(self)
+end