diff --git a/tailbone/templates/deform/textarea.pt b/tailbone/templates/deform/textarea.pt
index f705c652..bb9b6c84 100644
--- a/tailbone/templates/deform/textarea.pt
+++ b/tailbone/templates/deform/textarea.pt
@@ -9,7 +9,8 @@
   <div tal:define="vmodel vmodel|'field_model_' + name;">
     <b-input type="textarea"
              name="${name}"
-             v-model="${vmodel}">
+             v-model="${vmodel}"
+             tal:attributes="attributes|field.widget.attributes|{};">
     </b-input>
   </div>
 </div>
diff --git a/tailbone/templates/messages/create.mako b/tailbone/templates/messages/create.mako
index 10729590..4a15573b 100644
--- a/tailbone/templates/messages/create.mako
+++ b/tailbone/templates/messages/create.mako
@@ -44,6 +44,19 @@
     TailboneFormData.possibleRecipients = new Map(${json.dumps(available_recipients)|n})
     TailboneFormData.recipientDisplayMap = ${json.dumps(recipient_display_map)|n}
 
+    TailboneForm.methods.subjectKeydown = function(event) {
+
+        // do not auto-submit form when user presses enter in subject field
+        if (event.which == 13) {
+            event.preventDefault()
+
+            // set focus to msg body input if possible
+            if (this.$refs.messageBody && this.$refs.messageBody.focus) {
+                this.$refs.messageBody.focus()
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
   </script>
 </%def>
 
diff --git a/tailbone/views/messages.py b/tailbone/views/messages.py
index 6aaf342e..4c83da34 100644
--- a/tailbone/views/messages.py
+++ b/tailbone/views/messages.py
@@ -221,11 +221,13 @@ class MessageView(MasterView):
         if self.creating:
             f.set_widget('subject', dfwidget.TextInputWidget(
                 placeholder="please enter a subject",
-                autocomplete='off'))
+                autocomplete='off',
+                attributes={'@keydown.native': 'subjectKeydown'}))
             f.set_required('subject')
 
         # body
-        f.set_widget('body', dfwidget.TextAreaWidget(cols=50, rows=15))
+        f.set_widget('body', dfwidget.TextAreaWidget(
+            cols=50, rows=15, attributes={'ref': 'messageBody'}))
 
         if self.creating:
             f.remove('sender', 'sent')