diff --git a/src/laybasic/laybasic/layBitmap.cc b/src/laybasic/laybasic/layBitmap.cc
index 8755cab91..73725629b 100644
--- a/src/laybasic/laybasic/layBitmap.cc
+++ b/src/laybasic/laybasic/layBitmap.cc
@@ -847,7 +847,7 @@ Bitmap::render_text (const lay::RenderText &text)
 
       if (y > -0.5 && y < double (height () + ff.height () - 1) - 0.5) {
 
-        for ( ; cp1 != cp; ++cp1) {
+        while (cp1 != cp) {
 
           uint32_t c = tl::utf32_from_utf8 (cp1, cp);
           if (c < uint32_t (ff.first_char ()) || c >= uint32_t (ff.n_chars ()) + ff.first_char ()) {
diff --git a/src/laybasic/laybasic/layMarker.cc b/src/laybasic/laybasic/layMarker.cc
index b540e2ad2..a7a8bb1c0 100644
--- a/src/laybasic/laybasic/layMarker.cc
+++ b/src/laybasic/laybasic/layMarker.cc
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@
 #include "layViewOp.h"
 #include "layRenderer.h"
 #include "layLayoutViewBase.h"
+#include "layTextInfo.h"
 #include "tlAssert.h"
 
 namespace lay
@@ -625,11 +626,24 @@ ShapeMarker::render (const Viewport &vp, ViewObjectCanvas &canvas)
   if (trans_vector ()) {
     for (std::vector<db::DCplxTrans>::const_iterator tr = trans_vector ()->begin (); tr != trans_vector ()->end (); ++tr) {
       db::CplxTrans t = vp.trans () * *tr * trans ();
+      if (m_shape.is_text () && text) {
+        //  draw a frame around the text
+        lay::TextInfo ti (view ());
+        db::DCplxTrans vp_trans = vp.trans () * *tr;
+        db::DBox box = ti.bbox (trans () * m_shape.text (), vp_trans).enlarged (db::DVector (2.0 / vp_trans.mag (), 2.0 / vp_trans.mag ()));
+        r.draw (box, vp_trans, 0, text, 0, 0);
+      }
       r.draw (m_shape, t, fill, contour, vertex, text);
       r.draw_propstring (m_shape, &ly->properties_repository (), text, t);
     }
   } else {
     db::CplxTrans t = vp.trans () * trans ();
+    if (m_shape.is_text () && text) {
+      //  draw a frame around the text
+      lay::TextInfo ti (view ());
+      db::DBox box = ti.bbox (trans () * m_shape.text (), vp.trans ()).enlarged (db::DVector (2.0 / vp.trans ().mag (), 2.0 / vp.trans ().mag ()));
+      r.draw (box, vp.trans (), 0, text, 0, 0);
+    }
     r.draw (m_shape, t, fill, contour, vertex, text);
     r.draw_propstring (m_shape, &ly->properties_repository (), text, t);
   }
@@ -1081,8 +1095,15 @@ Marker::draw (lay::Renderer &r, const db::CplxTrans &t, lay::CanvasPlane *fill,
   } else if (m_type == DPath) {
     r.draw (*m_object.dpath, db::DCplxTrans (t), fill, contour, vertex, text);
   } else if (m_type == Text) {
+    //  TODO: in order to draw the box we'd need a separation of dbu-to-micron and micron-to-pixel transformations ...
     r.draw (*m_object.text, t, fill, contour, vertex, text);
   } else if (m_type == DText) {
+    if (view () && text) {
+      //  draw a frame around the text
+      lay::TextInfo ti (view ());
+      db::DBox box = ti.bbox (*m_object.dtext, db::DCplxTrans (t)).enlarged (db::DVector (2.0 / t.mag (), 2.0 / t.mag ()));
+      r.draw (box, db::DCplxTrans (t), 0, text, 0, 0);
+    }
     r.draw (*m_object.dtext, db::DCplxTrans (t), fill, contour, vertex, text);
   } else if (m_type == Edge) {
     r.draw (*m_object.edge, t, fill, contour, vertex, text);
@@ -1279,6 +1300,12 @@ DMarker::render (const Viewport &vp, ViewObjectCanvas &canvas)
   } else if (m_type == Path) {
     r.draw (*m_object.path, t, fill, contour, vertex, text);
   } else if (m_type == Text) {
+    if (view () && text) {
+      //  draw a frame around the text
+      lay::TextInfo ti (view ());
+      db::DBox box = ti.bbox (*m_object.text, t).enlarged (db::DVector (2.0 / t.mag (), 2.0 / t.mag ()));
+      r.draw (box, t, 0, text, 0, 0);
+    }
     r.draw (*m_object.text, t, fill, contour, vertex, text);
   } else if (m_type == Edge) {
     r.draw (*m_object.edge, t, fill, contour, vertex, text);
diff --git a/src/laybasic/laybasic/layMarker.h b/src/laybasic/laybasic/layMarker.h
index c687e4eff..d807dbf24 100644
--- a/src/laybasic/laybasic/layMarker.h
+++ b/src/laybasic/laybasic/layMarker.h
@@ -226,6 +226,12 @@ public:
 protected:
   void get_bitmaps (const Viewport &vp, ViewObjectCanvas &canvas, lay::CanvasPlane *&fill, lay::CanvasPlane *&frame, lay::CanvasPlane *&vertex, lay::CanvasPlane *&text);
 
+  lay::LayoutViewBase *view ()
+  {
+    return mp_view;
+  }
+
+private:
   tl::Color m_color;
   tl::Color m_frame_color;
   char m_line_width, m_vertex_size, m_halo;
diff --git a/src/laybasic/laybasic/layTextInfo.cc b/src/laybasic/laybasic/layTextInfo.cc
index d72f39510..f123d5fd1 100644
--- a/src/laybasic/laybasic/layTextInfo.cc
+++ b/src/laybasic/laybasic/layTextInfo.cc
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ TextInfo::bbox (const db::DText &text, const db::DCplxTrans &vp_trans) const
 
   db::DVector tp1 (fx * offset, fy * offset + (fy - 1) * 0.5 * h);
   db::DVector tp2 (fx * offset, fy * offset + (fy + 1) * 0.5 * h);
-  db::DPoint dp = db::DPoint () + text.trans ().disp ();
+  db::DPoint dp = vp_trans * (db::DPoint () + text.trans ().disp ());
 
   db::DBox b (dp + fp (tp1), dp + fp (tp2));
 
diff --git a/src/laybasic/unit_tests/layTextInfoTests.cc b/src/laybasic/unit_tests/layTextInfoTests.cc
index 2d872feb8..3b3259360 100644
--- a/src/laybasic/unit_tests/layTextInfoTests.cc
+++ b/src/laybasic/unit_tests/layTextInfoTests.cc
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ TEST(1)
 
   lay::TextInfo ti (&lv);
   EXPECT_EQ (ti.bbox (text, db::DCplxTrans ()).to_string (), "(12,22;36,37)");
-  EXPECT_EQ (ti.bbox (text, db::DCplxTrans (2.0)).to_string (), "(6,11;18,18.5)");
+  EXPECT_EQ (ti.bbox (text, db::DCplxTrans (2.0)).to_string (), "(11,21;23,28.5)");
   EXPECT_EQ (ti.bbox (text2, db::DCplxTrans ()).to_string (), "(12,22;60,52)");
 
   text3 = text2;