diff --git a/frontend/ui/filechooser.lua b/frontend/ui/filechooser.lua
index 2ab853bb7..dbfbf044f 100644
--- a/frontend/ui/filechooser.lua
+++ b/frontend/ui/filechooser.lua
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 require "ui/menu"
 
 FileChooser = Menu:new{
+	height = Screen:getHeight(),
+	width = Screen:getWidth(),
 	path = ".",
 	parent = nil,
 	show_hidden = false,
diff --git a/frontend/ui/menu.lua b/frontend/ui/menu.lua
index b5934c74a..3f0a807c5 100644
--- a/frontend/ui/menu.lua
+++ b/frontend/ui/menu.lua
@@ -204,7 +204,11 @@ Menu = FocusManager:new{
 	sface = Font:getFace("scfont", 20),
 
 	title = "No Title",
-	dimen = Geom:new{ w = 500, h = 500 },
+	-- default width and height
+	width = 500,
+	-- height will be calculated according to item number if not given
+	height = nil,
+	dimen = Geom:new{},
 	item_table = {},
 	item_shortcuts = {
 		"Q", "W", "E", "R", "T", "Y", "U", "I", "O", "P",
@@ -222,17 +226,33 @@ Menu = FocusManager:new{
 
 	-- set this to true to not paint as popup menu
 	is_borderless = false,
+	-- close_callback is a function, which is executed when menu is closed
+	-- it is usually set by the widget which creates the menu
+	close_callback = nil
 }
 
-function Menu:init()
+function Menu:_recalculateDimen()
+	self.dimen.w = self.width
+	-- if height not given, dynamically calculate it
+	self.dimen.h = self.height or (#self.item_table + 2) * 36
+	if self.dimen.h > Screen:getHeight() then
+		self.dimen.h = Screen:getHeight()
+	end
 	self.item_dimen = Geom:new{
 		w = self.dimen.w,
 		h = 36, -- hardcoded for now
 	}
-
+	if not self.is_borderless then
+		-- we need to substract border, margin and padding
+		self.item_dimen.w = self.item_dimen.w - 14
+	end
 	self.perpage = math.floor(self.dimen.h / self.item_dimen.h) - 2
-	self.page = 1
 	self.page_num = math.ceil(#self.item_table / self.perpage)
+end
+
+function Menu:init()
+	self:_recalculateDimen()
+	self.page = 1
 
 	-----------------------------------
 	-- start to set up widget layout --
@@ -262,16 +282,12 @@ function Menu:init()
 	self.content_group = content
 
 	if not self.is_borderless then
-		self[1] = CenterContainer:new{
-			FrameContainer:new{
-				background = 0,
-				radius = math.floor(self.dimen.w/20),
-				content
-			},
-			dimen = Screen:getSize(),
+		self[1] = FrameContainer:new{
+			dimen = self.dimen,
+			background = 0,
+			radius = math.floor(self.dimen.w/20),
+			content
 		}
-		-- we need to substract border, margin and padding
-		self.item_dimen.w = self.item_dimen.w - 14
 	else
 		-- no border for the menu
 		self[1] = FrameContainer:new{
@@ -279,7 +295,7 @@ function Menu:init()
 			bordersize = 0,
 			padding = 0,
 			margin = 0,
-			dimen = Screen:getSize(),
+			dimen = self.dimen,
 			content
 		}
 	end
@@ -292,6 +308,16 @@ function Menu:init()
 			MenuCloseButton:new{
 				menu = self,
 			})
+		self.ges_events.TapCloseAllMenus = {
+			GestureRange:new{
+				ges = "tap",
+				range = Geom:new{
+					x = 0, y = 0,
+					w = Screen:getWidth(),
+					h = Screen:getHeight(),
+				}
+			}
+		}
 	else
 		-- set up keyboard events
 		self.key_events.Close = { {"Back"}, doc = "close menu" }
@@ -323,8 +349,10 @@ function Menu:updateItems(select_number)
 	self.layout = {}
 	self.item_group:clear()
 	self.content_group:resetLayout()
+	self:_recalculateDimen()
 
 	for c = 1, self.perpage do
+		-- calculate index in item_table
 		local i = (self.page - 1) * self.perpage + c 
 		if i <= #self.item_table then
 			local item_shortcut = nil
@@ -351,7 +379,15 @@ function Menu:updateItems(select_number)
 				menu = self,
 			}
 			table.insert(self.item_group, item_tmp)
+			-- this is for focus manager
 			table.insert(self.layout, {item_tmp})
+		else
+			-- item not enough to fill the whole page, break out of loop
+			table.insert(self.item_group, 
+				VerticalSpan:new{
+					width = (self.item_dimen.h * (self.perpage - c + 1))
+				})
+			break
 		end -- if i <= self.items
 	end -- for c=1, self.perpage
 	if self.item_group[1] then
@@ -365,7 +401,7 @@ function Menu:updateItems(select_number)
 		self.page_info.text = "no choices available"
 	end
 
-	-- FIXME: this is a dirty hack to clear the previous menu
+	-- FIXME: this is a dirty hack to clear previous menus
 	UIManager.repaint_all = true
 	--UIManager:setDirty(self)
 end
@@ -465,7 +501,7 @@ end
 function Menu:onClose()
 	local table_length = #self.item_table_stack
 	if table_length == 0 then
-		UIManager:close(self)
+		self:onCloseAllMenus()
 	else
 		-- back to parent menu
 		parent_item_table = table.remove(self.item_table_stack, table_length)
@@ -474,3 +510,19 @@ function Menu:onClose()
 	return true
 end
 
+function Menu:onCloseAllMenus()
+	UIManager:close(self)
+	if self.close_callback then
+		self.close_callback()
+	end
+	return true
+end
+
+function Menu:onTapCloseAllMenus(arg, ges_ev)
+	if ges_ev.pos:notIntersectWith(self.dimen) then
+		self:onCloseAllMenus()
+		return true
+	end
+end
+
+
diff --git a/frontend/ui/reader/readermenu.lua b/frontend/ui/reader/readermenu.lua
index ecfae4130..d19c55f83 100644
--- a/frontend/ui/reader/readermenu.lua
+++ b/frontend/ui/reader/readermenu.lua
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ function ReaderMenu:init()
 						h = Screen:getHeight()/2
 					}
 				}
-			}
+			},
 		}
 	else
 		self.key_events = {
@@ -94,6 +94,7 @@ function ReaderMenu:onShowMenu()
 	table.insert(item_table, {
 		text = "Return to file browser",
 		callback = function()
+			UIManager:close(self.menu_container)
 			self.ui:onClose()
 		end
 	})
@@ -101,17 +102,25 @@ function ReaderMenu:onShowMenu()
 	local main_menu = Menu:new{
 		title = "Document menu",
 		item_table = item_table,
-		width = 300,
-		height = #item_table + 3 * 28
+		width = Screen:getWidth() - 100,
 	}
-
 	function main_menu:onMenuChoice(item)
 		if item.callback then
 			item.callback()
 		end
 	end
 
-	UIManager:show(main_menu)
+	local menu_container = CenterContainer:new{
+		main_menu,
+		dimen = Screen:getSize(),
+	}
+	main_menu.close_callback = function () 
+		UIManager:close(menu_container)
+	end
+	-- maintain a reference to menu_container
+	self.menu_container = menu_container
+
+	UIManager:show(menu_container)
 
 	return true
 end
@@ -121,3 +130,8 @@ function ReaderMenu:onTapShowMenu()
 	return true
 end
 
+function ReaderMenu:onSetDimensions(dimen)
+	-- update gesture listenning range according to new screen orientation
+	self:init()
+end
+
diff --git a/frontend/ui/ui.lua b/frontend/ui/ui.lua
index 896804dd9..5ac088bc2 100644
--- a/frontend/ui/ui.lua
+++ b/frontend/ui/ui.lua
@@ -155,16 +155,8 @@ function UIManager:run()
 
 		-- repaint dirty widgets
 		local dirty = false
-		local update_area = Geom:new{}
 		for _, widget in ipairs(self._window_stack) do
 			if self.repaint_all or self._dirty[widget.widget] then
-				widget_dimen = widget.widget:getSize()
-				if widget_dimen then
-					widget_area = Geom:new{
-										x = widget.x, y = widget.y,
-										w = widget_dimen.w, h = widget_dimen.h}
-					update_area = update_area:combine(widget_area)
-				end
 				widget.widget:paintTo(Screen.fb.bb, widget.x, widget.y)
 				if self._dirty[widget.widget] == "full" then
 					self.refresh_type = 0
@@ -176,8 +168,6 @@ function UIManager:run()
 			end
 		end
 		self.repaint_all = false
-		-- @TODO make use of update_area on refresh  19.06 2012 (houqp)
-		--DEBUG(update_area)
 
 		if dirty then
 			-- refresh FB
diff --git a/frontend/ui/widget.lua b/frontend/ui/widget.lua
index 7da05bc46..6abd6f2c4 100644
--- a/frontend/ui/widget.lua
+++ b/frontend/ui/widget.lua
@@ -24,6 +24,11 @@ function Widget:new(o)
 	local o = o or {}
 	setmetatable(o, self)
 	self.__index = self
+	-- Both o._init and o.init are called on object create. But o._init is used
+	-- for base widget initialization (basic component used to build other
+	-- widgets). While o.init is for higher level widgets, for example Menu
+	-- Widget
+	if o._init then o:_init() end
 	if o.init then o:init() end
 	return o
 end
@@ -92,7 +97,7 @@ end
 
 --[[
 Containers will pass events to children or react on them themselves
-]]
+]]--
 function WidgetContainer:handleEvent(event)
 	if not self:propagateEvent(event) then
 		-- call our own standard event handler
@@ -582,10 +587,12 @@ an example for a key_event is this:
 it is suggested to reference configurable sequences from another table
 and store that table as configuration setting
 ]]
-InputContainer = WidgetContainer:new{
-	key_events = {},
-	ges_events = {},
-}
+InputContainer = WidgetContainer:new{}
+
+function InputContainer:_init()
+	self.key_events = {}
+	self.ges_events = {}
+end
 
 function InputContainer:paintTo(bb, x, y)
 	self.dimen.x = x