diff --git a/src/nano.c b/src/nano.c
index 55c01216c090b3401a7a304002b03dfa57a2dbf3..8458a4752b41a47ccf3dad476e3f1d40bb7e5d15 100644
--- a/src/nano.c
+++ b/src/nano.c
@@ -692,9 +692,11 @@ void die_save_file(const char *die_filename, struct stat *die_stat)
 /* Initialize the three window portions nano uses. */
 void window_init(void)
 {
-    /* If the screen height is too small, get out. */
+    /* Compute how many lines the edit subwindow will have. */
     editwinrows = LINES - TOP_ROWS - BOTTOM_ROWS;
-    if (COLS < MIN_EDITOR_COLS || editwinrows < MIN_EDITOR_ROWS)
+
+    /* If there is no room to show anything, give up. */
+    if (editwinrows <= 0)
 	die(_("Window size is too small for nano...\n"));
 
 #ifndef DISABLE_WRAPJUSTIFY
diff --git a/src/nano.h b/src/nano.h
index 08996499d658a41302b12ccbb5e97e394a329982..2c7dee47a1fb1594e5201fe3e291366f02e83477 100644
--- a/src/nano.h
+++ b/src/nano.h
@@ -576,11 +576,6 @@ enum
 /* The maximum number of entries displayed in the main shortcut list. */
 #define MAIN_VISIBLE (((COLS + 40) / 20) * 2)
 
-/* The minimum editor window columns and rows required for nano to work
- * correctly.  Don't make these smaller than 4 and 1. */
-#define MIN_EDITOR_COLS 4
-#define MIN_EDITOR_ROWS 1
-
 /* The default number of characters from the end of the line where
  * wrapping occurs. */
 #define CHARS_FROM_EOL 8
diff --git a/src/winio.c b/src/winio.c
index 1f31195af5d381acdc5c5b4887b5a7c9a1ba8ecb..faf69b34e27400bdc063d854787d073d3faed618 100644
--- a/src/winio.c
+++ b/src/winio.c
@@ -2048,12 +2048,13 @@ void bottombars(int menu)
 	    slen = MAIN_VISIBLE;
     }
 
-    /* There will be this many characters per column, except for the
-     * last two, which will be longer by (COLS % colwidth) columns so as
-     * to not waste space.  We need at least three columns to display
-     * anything properly. */
+    /* Compute the width of each keyname-plus-explanation pair. */
     colwidth = COLS / ((slen / 2) + (slen % 2));
 
+    /* If there is no room, don't print anything. */
+    if (colwidth == 0)
+	return;
+
     blank_bottombars();
 
 #ifdef DEBUG