diff --git a/controller/Html_cleaner.py b/controller/Html_cleaner.py
index 8b89a3a..0c7f556 100644
--- a/controller/Html_cleaner.py
+++ b/controller/Html_cleaner.py
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ class Html_cleaner(HTMLParser):
       'p': [ 'align' ],
       'img': [ 'src', 'alt', 'border', 'title', "class" ],
       'table': [ 'cellpadding', 'cellspacing', 'border', 'width', 'height' ],
-      'font': [ 'size', 'face', 'color' ],
+      'font': [ 'size', 'face', 'color', 'style', 'class' ],
       'span': [ 'style' ],
       'td': [ 'rowspan', 'colspan', 'width', 'height' ],
       'th': [ 'rowspan', 'colspan', 'width', 'height' ],
diff --git a/static/css/style.css b/static/css/style.css
index a436d01..1f94d5e 100644
--- a/static/css/style.css
+++ b/static/css/style.css
@@ -1202,6 +1202,7 @@ h1 {
   outline: none;
   background-color: transparent;
   padding: 0;
+  overflow: visible;
   -moz-user-select: none;
   -webkit-user-select: none;
 }
@@ -1211,6 +1212,10 @@ h1 {
   cursor: pointer;
 }
 
+.radio_spacer {
+  padding-left: 0.5em;
+}
+
 .small_button {
   font-size: 100%;
 }
diff --git a/static/js/Editor.js b/static/js/Editor.js
index 771d7cd..aa6f6c2 100644
--- a/static/js/Editor.js
+++ b/static/js/Editor.js
@@ -1462,6 +1462,9 @@ Editor.prototype.state_enabled = function ( state_name, node_names, attribute_na
   return false;
 }
 
+DEFAULT_FOREGROUND_CODE = "#000000";
+DEFAULT_BACKGROUND_CODE = "#ffffff";
+
 // return a list of names for all the nodes containing the cursor
 Editor.prototype.current_node_names = function () {
   var node_names = new Array();
@@ -1497,11 +1500,11 @@ Editor.prototype.current_node_names = function () {
       name = "fontsize";
     else if ( name == "font" && node.getAttribute( "color" ) )
       name = "color";
-    else if ( node.hasAttribute && node.hasAttribute( "style" ) ) {
+    else if ( name == "span" || name == "font" ) {
       var color = getStyle( node, "color" );
-      var background_color = getStyle( node, "background-color" );
-      if ( ( color && color != "transparent" ) ||
-           ( background_color && background_color != "transparent" ) )
+      var bg_color = getStyle( node, "background-color" );
+      if ( ( color && color != "transparent" && color != DEFAULT_FOREGROUND_CODE ) ||
+           ( bg_color && bg_color != "transparent" && bg_color != DEFAULT_BACKGROUND_CODE ) )
         name = "color";
     }
 
@@ -1540,19 +1543,19 @@ Editor.prototype.current_colors = function () {
     if ( name == "body" )
       break;
 
-    if ( node.hasAttribute && node.hasAttribute( "style" ) ) {
+    if ( name == "font" && node.getAttribute( "color" ) ) {
+      foreground = node.getAttribute( "color" );
+    } else if ( name == "span" || name == "font" ) {
       if ( foreground == null ) {
         foreground = getStyle( node, "color" )
-        if ( foreground == "transparent" )
+        if ( foreground == "transparent" || foreground == DEFAULT_FOREGROUND_CODE )
           foreground = null;
       }
       if ( background == null ) {
         background = getStyle( node, "background-color" )
-        if ( background == "transparent" )
+        if ( background == "transparent" || background == DEFAULT_BACKGROUND_CODE )
           background = null;
       }
-    } else if ( name == "font" && node.getAttribute( "color" ) ) {
-      foreground = node.getAttribute( "color" );
     }
 
     if ( foreground && background )
@@ -1571,6 +1574,9 @@ Editor.prototype.set_foreground_color = function( color_code ) {
   if ( GECKO ) this.exec_command( "styleWithCSS", true );
   this.exec_command( "forecolor", Color.fromString( color_code ).toHexString() );
   if ( GECKO ) this.exec_command( "styleWithCSS", false );
+
+  if ( MSIE )
+    this.cleanup_color_html();
 }
 
 Editor.prototype.set_background_color = function( color_code ) {
@@ -1580,6 +1586,27 @@ Editor.prototype.set_background_color = function( color_code ) {
   else
     this.exec_command( "hilitecolor", Color.fromString( color_code ).toHexString() );
   if ( GECKO ) this.exec_command( "styleWithCSS", false );
+
+  if ( MSIE )
+    this.cleanup_color_html();
+}
+
+Editor.prototype.cleanup_color_html = function () {
+  // for some reason, IE likes to add <font size=+0> tags when changing colors, which for some
+  // reason appears to slightly increase the rendered font size
+  var fonts = getElementsByTagAndClassName( "font", null, this.document );
+
+  for ( var i in fonts ) {
+    var node = fonts[ i ];
+
+    var size = node.getAttribute( "size" );
+    if ( size == "+0" ) {
+      node.removeAttribute( "size" );
+
+      // unless there is at least one attribute, IE will add the "size=+0" right back on
+      addElementClass( node, "nosize" );
+    }
+  }
 }
 
 Editor.prototype.shutdown = function( event ) {
diff --git a/static/js/Wiki.js b/static/js/Wiki.js
index 0e522a5..e33835b 100644
--- a/static/js/Wiki.js
+++ b/static/js/Wiki.js
@@ -4576,8 +4576,6 @@ function Color_pulldown( wiki, notebook_id, invoker, anchor, editor ) {
 
   this.invoker = invoker;
 
-  var DEFAULT_FOREGROUND_CODE = "#000000";
-  var DEFAULT_BACKGROUND_CODE = "#ffffff";
   var current_colors = editor.current_colors();
 
   this.foreground_code = current_colors[ 0 ];
@@ -4612,7 +4610,7 @@ function Color_pulldown( wiki, notebook_id, invoker, anchor, editor ) {
 
   var radio_area = createDOM( "div", {},
     this.foreground_radio, this.foreground_label,
-    " ",
+    createDOM( "span", { "class": "radio_spacer" } ),
     this.background_radio, this.background_label
   );
 
@@ -4664,9 +4662,9 @@ function Color_pulldown( wiki, notebook_id, invoker, anchor, editor ) {
   connect( this.table, "onmousedown", function ( event ) { self.color_mouse_pressed( event ); } );
   connect( this.table, "onmouseup", function ( event ) { self.color_mouse_released( event ); } );
   connect( this.foreground_radio, "onclick", function ( event ) { self.foreground_radio_clicked( event ); } );
-  connect( this.foreground_label, "onclick", function ( event ) { self.foreground_radio_clicked( event ); } );
+  connect( this.foreground_label, "onclick", function ( event ) { self.foreground_radio_clicked( event ); event.stop(); } );
   connect( this.background_radio, "onclick", function ( event ) { self.background_radio_clicked( event ); } );
-  connect( this.background_label, "onclick", function ( event ) { self.background_radio_clicked( event ); } );
+  connect( this.background_label, "onclick", function ( event ) { self.background_radio_clicked( event ); event.stop(); } );
 
   Pulldown.prototype.finish_init.call( this );
 }