diff --git a/config.def.h b/config.def.h
index 77ff358..3bee2e7 100644
--- a/config.def.h
+++ b/config.def.h
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 /* See LICENSE file for copyright and license details. */
 
 /* appearance */
-static const char font[]            = "-*-terminus-medium-r-*-*-16-*-*-*-*-*-*-*";
+static const char font[]            = "Sans 8";
 static const char normbordercolor[] = "#444444";
 static const char normbgcolor[]     = "#222222";
 static const char normfgcolor[]     = "#bbbbbb";
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ static const unsigned int borderpx  = 1;        /* border pixel of windows */
 static const unsigned int snap      = 32;       /* snap pixel */
 static const Bool showbar           = True;     /* False means no bar */
 static const Bool topbar            = True;     /* False means bottom bar */
+static const Bool statusmarkup      = True;     /* True means use pango markup in status message */
 
 /* tagging */
 static const char *tags[] = { "1", "2", "3", "4", "5", "6", "7", "8", "9" };
diff --git a/config.mk b/config.mk
index 484554a..cdfb642 100644
--- a/config.mk
+++ b/config.mk
@@ -15,8 +15,8 @@ XINERAMALIBS = -L${X11LIB} -lXinerama
 XINERAMAFLAGS = -DXINERAMA
 
 # includes and libs
-INCS = -I. -I/usr/include -I${X11INC}
-LIBS = -L/usr/lib -lc -L${X11LIB} -lX11 ${XINERAMALIBS}
+INCS = -I. -I/usr/include -I${X11INC} `pkg-config --cflags xft pango pangoxft`
+LIBS = -L/usr/lib -lc -L${X11LIB} -lX11 ${XINERAMALIBS} `pkg-config --libs xft pango pangoxft`
 
 # flags
 CPPFLAGS = -DVERSION=\"${VERSION}\" ${XINERAMAFLAGS}
diff --git a/dwm.c b/dwm.c
index 1d78655..8fae3ba 100644
--- a/dwm.c
+++ b/dwm.c
@@ -36,6 +36,9 @@
 #include <X11/Xlib.h>
 #include <X11/Xproto.h>
 #include <X11/Xutil.h>
+#include <X11/Xft/Xft.h>
+#include <pango/pango.h>
+#include <pango/pangoxft.h>
 #ifdef XINERAMA
 #include <X11/extensions/Xinerama.h>
 #endif /* XINERAMA */
@@ -47,8 +50,12 @@
                                * MAX(0, MIN((y)+(h),(m)->wy+(m)->wh) - MAX((y),(m)->wy)))
 #define ISVISIBLE(C)            ((C->tags & C->mon->tagset[C->mon->seltags]))
 #define LENGTH(X)               (sizeof X / sizeof X[0])
+#ifndef MAX
 #define MAX(A, B)               ((A) > (B) ? (A) : (B))
+#endif
+#ifndef MIN
 #define MIN(A, B)               ((A) < (B) ? (A) : (B))
+#endif
 #define MOUSEMASK               (BUTTONMASK|PointerMotionMask)
 #define WIDTH(X)                ((X)->w + 2 * (X)->bw)
 #define HEIGHT(X)               ((X)->h + 2 * (X)->bw)
@@ -104,11 +111,15 @@ typedef struct {
 	Drawable drawable;
 	GC gc;
 	struct {
+		XftColor norm[ColLast];
+		XftColor sel[ColLast];
+		XftDraw *drawable;
+	} xft;
+	struct {
 		int ascent;
 		int descent;
 		int height;
-		XFontSet set;
-		XFontStruct *xfont;
+		PangoLayout *layout;
 	} font;
 } DC; /* draw context */
 
@@ -186,7 +197,7 @@ static void focus(Client *c);
 static void focusin(XEvent *e);
 static void focusmon(const Arg *arg);
 static void focusstack(const Arg *arg);
-static unsigned long getcolor(const char *colstr);
+static unsigned long getcolor(const char *colstr, XftColor *color);
 static Bool getrootptr(int *x, int *y);
 static long getstate(Window w);
 static Bool gettextprop(Window w, Atom atom, char *text, unsigned int size);
@@ -254,7 +265,7 @@ static void zoom(const Arg *arg);
 
 /* variables */
 static const char broken[] = "broken";
-static char stext[256];
+static char stext[512];
 static int screen;
 static int sw, sh;           /* X display screen geometry width, height */
 static int bh, blw = 0;      /* bar geometry */
@@ -479,18 +490,21 @@ cleanup(void) {
 	Arg a = {.ui = ~0};
 	Layout foo = { "", NULL };
 	Monitor *m;
+	int i;
 
 	view(&a);
 	selmon->lt[selmon->sellt] = &foo;
 	for(m = mons; m; m = m->next)
 		while(m->stack)
 			unmanage(m->stack, False);
-	if(dc.font.set)
-		XFreeFontSet(dpy, dc.font.set);
-	else
-		XFreeFont(dpy, dc.font.xfont);
 	XUngrabKey(dpy, AnyKey, AnyModifier, root);
 	XFreePixmap(dpy, dc.drawable);
+	for(i = ColBorder; i < ColLast; i++) {
+		XftColorFree(dpy, DefaultVisual(dpy, screen), DefaultColormap(dpy, screen), dc.xft.norm + i);
+		XftColorFree(dpy, DefaultVisual(dpy, screen), DefaultColormap(dpy, screen), dc.xft.sel + i);
+	}
+	XftDrawDestroy(dc.xft.drawable);
+	g_object_unref(dc.font.layout);
 	XFreeGC(dpy, dc.gc);
 	XFreeCursor(dpy, cursor[CurNormal]);
 	XFreeCursor(dpy, cursor[CurResize]);
@@ -581,6 +595,7 @@ configurenotify(XEvent *e) {
 			if(dc.drawable != 0)
 				XFreePixmap(dpy, dc.drawable);
 			dc.drawable = XCreatePixmap(dpy, root, sw, bh, DefaultDepth(dpy, screen));
+			XftDrawChange(dc.xft.drawable, dc.drawable);
 			updatebars();
 			for(m = mons; m; m = m->next)
 				XMoveResizeWindow(dpy, m->barwin, m->wx, m->by, m->ww, bh);
@@ -787,7 +802,7 @@ drawsquare(Bool filled, Bool empty, Bool invert, unsigned long col[ColLast]) {
 
 void
 drawtext(const char *text, unsigned long col[ColLast], Bool invert) {
-	char buf[256];
+	char buf[512];
 	int i, x, y, h, len, olen;
 
 	XSetForeground(dpy, dc.gc, col[invert ? ColFG : ColBG]);
@@ -796,20 +811,25 @@ drawtext(const char *text, unsigned long col[ColLast], Bool invert) {
 		return;
 	olen = strlen(text);
 	h = dc.font.ascent + dc.font.descent;
-	y = dc.y + (dc.h / 2) - (h / 2) + dc.font.ascent;
+	y = dc.y + (dc.h / 2) - (h / 2);
 	x = dc.x + (h / 2);
-	/* shorten text if necessary */
+	/* shorten text if necessary (this could wreak havoc with pango markup but fortunately
+	   dc.w is adjusted to the width of the status text and not the other way around) */
 	for(len = MIN(olen, sizeof buf); len && textnw(text, len) > dc.w - h; len--);
 	if(!len)
 		return;
 	memcpy(buf, text, len);
 	if(len < olen)
 		for(i = len; i && i > len - 3; buf[--i] = '.');
-	XSetForeground(dpy, dc.gc, col[invert ? ColBG : ColFG]);
-	if(dc.font.set)
-		XmbDrawString(dpy, dc.drawable, dc.font.set, dc.gc, x, y, buf, len);
+	if(text == stext && statusmarkup)
+		pango_layout_set_markup(dc.font.layout, buf, len);
 	else
-		XDrawString(dpy, dc.drawable, dc.gc, x, y, buf, len);
+		pango_layout_set_text(dc.font.layout, buf, len);
+	pango_xft_render_layout(dc.xft.drawable,
+		(col == dc.norm ? dc.xft.norm : dc.xft.sel) + (invert ? ColBG : ColFG),
+		dc.font.layout, x * PANGO_SCALE, y * PANGO_SCALE);
+	if(text == stext && statusmarkup) /* clear markup attributes */
+		pango_layout_set_attributes(dc.font.layout, NULL);
 }
 
 void
@@ -927,13 +947,13 @@ getatomprop(Client *c, Atom prop) {
 }
 
 unsigned long
-getcolor(const char *colstr) {
+getcolor(const char *colstr, XftColor *color) {
 	Colormap cmap = DefaultColormap(dpy, screen);
-	XColor color;
+	Visual *vis = DefaultVisual(dpy, screen);
 
-	if(!XAllocNamedColor(dpy, cmap, colstr, &color, &color))
+	if(!XftColorAllocName(dpy, vis, cmap, colstr, color))
 		die("error, cannot allocate color '%s'\n", colstr);
-	return color.pixel;
+	return color->pixel;
 }
 
 Bool
@@ -1034,36 +1054,24 @@ incnmaster(const Arg *arg) {
 
 void
 initfont(const char *fontstr) {
-	char *def, **missing;
-	int n;
-
-	dc.font.set = XCreateFontSet(dpy, fontstr, &missing, &n, &def);
-	if(missing) {
-		while(n--)
-			fprintf(stderr, "dwm: missing fontset: %s\n", missing[n]);
-		XFreeStringList(missing);
-	}
-	if(dc.font.set) {
-		XFontStruct **xfonts;
-		char **font_names;
-
-		dc.font.ascent = dc.font.descent = 0;
-		XExtentsOfFontSet(dc.font.set);
-		n = XFontsOfFontSet(dc.font.set, &xfonts, &font_names);
-		while(n--) {
-			dc.font.ascent = MAX(dc.font.ascent, (*xfonts)->ascent);
-			dc.font.descent = MAX(dc.font.descent,(*xfonts)->descent);
-			xfonts++;
-		}
-	}
-	else {
-		if(!(dc.font.xfont = XLoadQueryFont(dpy, fontstr))
-		&& !(dc.font.xfont = XLoadQueryFont(dpy, "fixed")))
-			die("error, cannot load font: '%s'\n", fontstr);
-		dc.font.ascent = dc.font.xfont->ascent;
-		dc.font.descent = dc.font.xfont->descent;
-	}
+	PangoFontMap *fontmap;
+	PangoContext *context;
+	PangoFontDescription *desc;
+	PangoFontMetrics *metrics;
+
+	fontmap = pango_xft_get_font_map(dpy, screen);
+	context = pango_font_map_create_context(fontmap);
+	desc = pango_font_description_from_string(fontstr);
+	dc.font.layout = pango_layout_new(context);
+	pango_layout_set_font_description(dc.font.layout, desc);
+
+	metrics = pango_context_get_metrics(context, desc, NULL);
+	dc.font.ascent = pango_font_metrics_get_ascent(metrics) / PANGO_SCALE;
+	dc.font.descent = pango_font_metrics_get_descent(metrics) / PANGO_SCALE;
 	dc.font.height = dc.font.ascent + dc.font.descent;
+
+	pango_font_metrics_unref(metrics);
+	g_object_unref(context);
 }
 
 #ifdef XINERAMA
@@ -1612,17 +1620,16 @@ setup(void) {
 	cursor[CurResize] = XCreateFontCursor(dpy, XC_sizing);
 	cursor[CurMove] = XCreateFontCursor(dpy, XC_fleur);
 	/* init appearance */
-	dc.norm[ColBorder] = getcolor(normbordercolor);
-	dc.norm[ColBG] = getcolor(normbgcolor);
-	dc.norm[ColFG] = getcolor(normfgcolor);
-	dc.sel[ColBorder] = getcolor(selbordercolor);
-	dc.sel[ColBG] = getcolor(selbgcolor);
-	dc.sel[ColFG] = getcolor(selfgcolor);
+	dc.norm[ColBorder] = getcolor(normbordercolor, dc.xft.norm + ColBorder);
+	dc.norm[ColBG] = getcolor(normbgcolor, dc.xft.norm + ColBG);
+	dc.norm[ColFG] = getcolor(normfgcolor, dc.xft.norm + ColFG);
+	dc.sel[ColBorder] = getcolor(selbordercolor, dc.xft.sel + ColBorder);
+	dc.sel[ColBG] = getcolor(selbgcolor, dc.xft.sel + ColBG);
+	dc.sel[ColFG] = getcolor(selfgcolor, dc.xft.sel + ColFG);
 	dc.drawable = XCreatePixmap(dpy, root, DisplayWidth(dpy, screen), bh, DefaultDepth(dpy, screen));
+	dc.xft.drawable = XftDrawCreate(dpy, dc.drawable, DefaultVisual(dpy, screen), DefaultColormap(dpy, screen));
 	dc.gc = XCreateGC(dpy, root, 0, NULL);
 	XSetLineAttributes(dpy, dc.gc, 1, LineSolid, CapButt, JoinMiter);
-	if(!dc.font.set)
-		XSetFont(dpy, dc.gc, dc.font.xfont->fid);
 	/* init bars */
 	updatebars();
 	updatestatus();
@@ -1692,13 +1699,15 @@ tagmon(const Arg *arg) {
 
 int
 textnw(const char *text, unsigned int len) {
-	XRectangle r;
-
-	if(dc.font.set) {
-		XmbTextExtents(dc.font.set, text, len, NULL, &r);
-		return r.width;
-	}
-	return XTextWidth(dc.font.xfont, text, len);
+	PangoRectangle r;
+	if(text == stext && statusmarkup)
+		pango_layout_set_markup(dc.font.layout, text, len);
+	else
+		pango_layout_set_text(dc.font.layout, text, len);
+	pango_layout_get_extents(dc.font.layout, 0, &r);
+	if(text == stext && statusmarkup) /* clear markup attributes */
+		pango_layout_set_attributes(dc.font.layout, NULL);
+	return r.width / PANGO_SCALE;
 }
 
 void