diff --git a/lib/bbs.rb b/lib/bbs.rb
index 7e065bd..8d6e4fc 100644
--- a/lib/bbs.rb
+++ b/lib/bbs.rb
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ require_relative 'bbs/theme'
 require_relative 'bbs/widget'
 require_relative 'bbs/container'
 require_relative 'bbs/widgets'
+require_relative 'bbs/widgets/ansi_art'
 require_relative 'bbs/window'
 require_relative 'bbs/focus_manager'
 require_relative 'bbs/menu'
diff --git a/lib/bbs/application.rb b/lib/bbs/application.rb
index c0780ad..4cacce0 100644
--- a/lib/bbs/application.rb
+++ b/lib/bbs/application.rb
@@ -160,8 +160,6 @@ module BBS
     end
 
     def dispatch(event)
-      relayout!
-
       # Modal windows: top window gets first shot at events
       if (win = top_window)
         result = win.handle_event(event)
@@ -219,6 +217,8 @@ module BBS
       @committed = FrameBuffer.new(c, r) if first || resized
       @next      = FrameBuffer.new(c, r)
 
+      relayout!
+
       @next.fill(x: 1, y: 1, width: c, height: r, sgr: @theme[:screen])
       @root.render(@next)
       @windows.each { |w| w.render(@next) }
diff --git a/lib/bbs/widgets/ansi_art.rb b/lib/bbs/widgets/ansi_art.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..efbb4e1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/bbs/widgets/ansi_art.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,177 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+require_relative '../widget'
+
+module BBS
+  module Widgets
+    # AnsiArt — render a CP437 / ANSI art file (or any pre-encoded ASCII art)
+    # into a region of the screen.
+    #
+    #   art = BBS::Widgets::AnsiArt.from_file('art/welcome.ans')
+    #   art.layout(1, 2, 80, 22)
+    #   container.add(art)
+    #
+    # File handling:
+    #   .ans / .asc / .nfo  → decoded as IBM437 → UTF-8
+    #   .ansi / .txt         → assumed to already be UTF-8 (or 7-bit ASCII +
+    #                          ANSI escapes)
+    #   any other extension  → tries UTF-8 first, falls back to IBM437
+    #
+    # SAUCE metadata (last 129 bytes, marked by \x1A SUB) is stripped.
+    #
+    # Layout options:
+    #   align: :center (default), :left, :right    — horizontal placement
+    #   valign: :middle (default), :top, :bottom   — vertical placement
+    #   width  — clip art to this many visible columns (default: auto)
+    #
+    # See AnsiArt.random(dir) for picking a random file from a directory.
+    class AnsiArt < Widget
+      attr_accessor :lines, :art_width, :art_height, :align, :valign, :fill_parent
+
+      def initialize(lines: [], align: :center, valign: :middle, fill_parent: true, **kw)
+        super(**kw)
+        @lines       = lines
+        @align       = align
+        @valign      = valign
+        @fill_parent = fill_parent
+        @art_width   = (lines.map { |l| visible_length(l) }.max || 0)
+        @art_height  = lines.size
+      end
+
+      def self.from_file(path, **opts)
+        new(lines: load_file(path), **opts)
+      end
+
+      def self.from_string(text, **opts)
+        new(lines: split_lines(text), **opts)
+      end
+
+      # Pick a random file from +dir+. Returns a built-in fallback if the
+      # directory is missing or empty.
+      def self.random(dir, **opts)
+        files = Dir.glob(File.join(dir, '*.{ans,ansi,asc,nfo,txt}')).reject { |f| File.directory?(f) }
+        return new(lines: built_in_fallback, **opts) if files.empty?
+        from_file(files.sample, **opts)
+      rescue StandardError
+        new(lines: built_in_fallback, **opts)
+      end
+
+      def self.default_lines
+        built_in_fallback
+      end
+
+      def render(frame)
+        return if @lines.empty?
+        if @fill_parent && parent && parent.bounds
+          @bounds = parent.bounds.dup
+        end
+        return if bounds.width <= 0 || bounds.height <= 0
+
+        visible_h = [@art_height, bounds.height].min
+        y_offset = case @valign
+                   when :top    then 0
+                   when :bottom then [bounds.height - visible_h, 0].max
+                   else              [(bounds.height - visible_h) / 2, 0].max
+                   end
+
+        @lines.first(visible_h).each_with_index do |line, i|
+          line_width = visible_length(line)
+          clipped, clipped_width = clip_line(line, bounds.width)
+          x_offset = case @align
+                     when :left   then 0
+                     when :right  then [bounds.width - clipped_width, 0].max
+                     else              [(bounds.width - clipped_width) / 2, 0].max
+                     end
+          frame.move(bounds.x + x_offset, bounds.y + y_offset + i)
+          frame.write_ansi(clipped, base_sgr: style(:text))
+        end
+      end
+
+      # ── File loading ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+      def self.load_file(path)
+        raw = File.binread(path)
+        raw = strip_sauce(raw)
+        text = transcode(raw, path)
+        split_lines(text)
+      end
+
+      def self.strip_sauce(bytes)
+        sub = bytes.index("\x1A".b)
+        sub ? bytes.byteslice(0, sub) : bytes
+      end
+
+      def self.transcode(bytes, path)
+        ext = File.extname(path).downcase
+        case ext
+        when '.ans', '.asc', '.nfo'
+          bytes.force_encoding('IBM437').encode('UTF-8', invalid: :replace, undef: :replace)
+        when '.ansi', '.txt'
+          bytes.force_encoding('UTF-8').scrub('?')
+        else
+          # try utf8 first
+          utf8 = bytes.dup.force_encoding('UTF-8')
+          utf8.valid_encoding? ? utf8 : bytes.force_encoding('IBM437').encode('UTF-8',
+            invalid: :replace, undef: :replace)
+        end
+      end
+
+      def self.split_lines(text)
+        text.gsub(/\r\n?/, "\n").split("\n", -1)
+      end
+
+      # Strip ANSI escapes and count visible characters.
+      def visible_length(line)
+        line.gsub(/\e\[[\d;?]*[A-Za-z]/, '').length
+      end
+
+      # Clip the visible portion of a line that may contain ANSI escapes.
+      def clip_line(line, max_visible)
+        visible = 0
+        out     = +''
+        i       = 0
+        s       = line
+        while i < s.length
+          ch = s[i]
+          if ch == "\e" && s[i + 1] == '['
+            j = i + 2
+            j += 1 while j < s.length && !s[j].match?(/[A-Za-z]/)
+            out << s[i..j] if j < s.length
+            i = j + 1
+          else
+            break if visible >= max_visible
+            out << ch
+            visible += 1
+            i += 1
+          end
+        end
+        [out, visible]
+      end
+
+      # Default art used when no file is configured / available.
+      def self.built_in_fallback
+        sgr = ->(code) { "\e[#{code}m" }
+        y  = sgr.call('1;33')
+        d  = sgr.call('0;33')
+        c  = sgr.call('1;36')
+        r  = sgr.call('0')
+        [
+          '',
+          "#{y}     ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄#{r}",
+          "#{y}    █#{d}░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░#{y}█#{r}",
+          "#{y}    █#{d}░ #{c}╔══════════════════════════════════════════════╗#{d} ░#{y}█#{r}",
+          "#{y}    █#{d}░ #{c}║   #{y}▀█▀ █▀▀ █   █▀▀ ▀█▀ █▄█ █▀█ █▀▀  █▀▄ █▀▄ █▀#{c}   ║#{d} ░#{y}█#{r}",
+          "#{y}    █#{d}░ #{c}║   #{y} █  ██▄ █▄▄ ██▄  █   █  █▀▀ ██▄  █▄▀ █▄▀ ▄█#{c}   ║#{d} ░#{y}█#{r}",
+          "#{y}    █#{d}░ #{c}║                                              ║#{d} ░#{y}█#{r}",
+          "#{y}    █#{d}░ #{c}║         #{r}an open call to old friends#{c}            ║#{d} ░#{y}█#{r}",
+          "#{y}    █#{d}░ #{c}║                                              ║#{d} ░#{y}█#{r}",
+          "#{y}    █#{d}░ #{c}╚══════════════════════════════════════════════╝#{d} ░#{y}█#{r}",
+          "#{y}    █#{d}░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░#{y}█#{r}",
+          "#{y}     ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀#{r}",
+          '',
+          "          #{d}F10#{r}  open the top menu   #{d}F1#{r}  help",
+          "          #{d}F2#{r}   message boards      #{d}F4#{r}  chat",
+        ]
+      end
+    end
+  end
+end