diff --git a/common/draw.c b/common/draw.c
index 6fb13b682..fa7473a51 100644
--- a/common/draw.c
+++ b/common/draw.c
@@ -993,12 +993,13 @@ draw_rotate(draw_context_t *ctx,
  * \param phys_screen Physical screen number.
  * \param font Font to use.
  * \param text The text.
+ * \param len The text length.
  * \param pdata The parser data to fill.
  * \return Text height and width.
  */
 area_t
 draw_text_extents(xcb_connection_t *conn, int phys_screen, font_t *font,
-                  const char *text, draw_parser_data_t *parser_data)
+                  const char *text, ssize_t len, draw_parser_data_t *parser_data)
 {
     cairo_surface_t *surface;
     cairo_t *cr;
@@ -1006,9 +1007,8 @@ draw_text_extents(xcb_connection_t *conn, int phys_screen, font_t *font,
     PangoRectangle ext;
     xcb_screen_t *s = xutil_screen_get(conn, phys_screen);
     area_t geom = { 0, 0, 0, 0 };
-    ssize_t len;
 
-    if(!(len = a_strlen(text)))
+    if(!len)
         return geom;
 
     parser_data->connection = conn;
diff --git a/common/draw.h b/common/draw.h
index be05de819..170826897 100644
--- a/common/draw.h
+++ b/common/draw.h
@@ -214,7 +214,7 @@ void draw_image_delete(draw_image_t **);
 void draw_image(draw_context_t *, int, int, int, draw_image_t *);
 void draw_image_from_argb_data(draw_context_t *, int, int, int, int, int, unsigned char *);
 void draw_rotate(draw_context_t *, xcb_drawable_t, xcb_drawable_t, int, int, int, int, double, int, int);
-area_t draw_text_extents(xcb_connection_t *, int, font_t *, const char *, draw_parser_data_t *);
+area_t draw_text_extents(xcb_connection_t *, int, font_t *, const char *, ssize_t, draw_parser_data_t *);
 alignment_t draw_align_fromstr(const char *, ssize_t);
 const char *draw_align_tostr(alignment_t);
 
diff --git a/mouse.c b/mouse.c
index 41fcbeac0..4f79f19a0 100644
--- a/mouse.c
+++ b/mouse.c
@@ -252,6 +252,8 @@ mouse_infobox_draw(draw_context_t *ctx,
     simplewindow_refresh_pixmap(sw);
 }
 
+#define MOUSE_INFOBOX_STRING_DEFAULT "0000x0000+0000+0000"
+
 /** Initialize the infobox window.
  * \param phys_screen Physical screen number.
  * \param border Border size of the client.
@@ -272,7 +274,9 @@ mouse_infobox_new(int phys_screen, int border, area_t geometry,
     geom = draw_text_extents(globalconf.connection,
                              globalconf.default_screen,
                              globalconf.font,
-                             "0000x0000+0000+0000", &pdata);
+                             MOUSE_INFOBOX_STRING_DEFAULT,
+                             sizeof(MOUSE_INFOBOX_STRING_DEFAULT),
+                             &pdata);
     geom.x = geometry.x + ((2 * border + geometry.width) - geom.width) / 2;
     geom.y = geometry.y + ((2 * border + geometry.height) - geom.height) / 2;
 
diff --git a/widgets/taglist.c b/widgets/taglist.c
index 784d16d7b..ea98743c8 100644
--- a/widgets/taglist.c
+++ b/widgets/taglist.c
@@ -93,6 +93,7 @@ taglist_draw(draw_context_t *ctx, int screen, widget_node_t *w,
     area_t area;
     taglist_drawn_area_t *tda;
     int prev_width = 0;
+    size_t len;
 
     tag_array_t *tags = &globalconf.screens[screen].tags;
     const char **text = p_alloca(const char *, tags->len);
@@ -124,13 +125,13 @@ taglist_draw(draw_context_t *ctx, int screen, widget_node_t *w,
         luaA_dofunction(globalconf.L, data->label, 1, 1);
 
         if(lua_isstring(globalconf.L, -1))
-            text[i] = lua_tostring(globalconf.L, -1);
+            text[i] = lua_tolstring(globalconf.L, -1, &len);
 
         lua_pop(globalconf.L, 1);
 
         draw_parser_data_init(&pdata[i]);
         area = draw_text_extents(ctx->connection, ctx->phys_screen,
-                                 globalconf.font, text[i], &pdata[i]);
+                                 globalconf.font, text[i], len, &pdata[i]);
 
         if(pdata[i].bg_image)
             area.width = MAX(area.width, pdata[i].bg_resize ? w->area.height : pdata[i].bg_image->width);
diff --git a/widgets/textbox.c b/widgets/textbox.c
index b1e85a968..8eab4ffac 100644
--- a/widgets/textbox.c
+++ b/widgets/textbox.c
@@ -29,6 +29,8 @@ typedef struct
 {
     /** Textbox text */
     char *text;
+    /** Textbox text length */
+    size_t len;
     /** Textbox width */
     int width;
 } textbox_data_t;
@@ -59,7 +61,7 @@ textbox_draw(draw_context_t *ctx, int screen __attribute__ ((unused)),
     {
         draw_parser_data_init(&pdata);
         w->area.width = draw_text_extents(ctx->connection, ctx->phys_screen,
-                                          globalconf.font, d->text, &pdata).width;
+                                          globalconf.font, d->text, d->len, &pdata).width;
 
         if(w->area.width > ctx->width - used)
             w->area.width = ctx->width - used;
@@ -145,6 +147,7 @@ luaA_textbox_newindex(lua_State *L, awesome_token_t token)
         {
             p_delete(&d->text);
             a_iso2utf8(&d->text, buf, len);
+            d->len = len;
         }
         break;
       case A_TK_WIDTH: