diff --git a/examples/timeline/18_range_overflow.html b/examples/timeline/18_range_overflow.html
index a5a37240..b1636ad7 100644
--- a/examples/timeline/18_range_overflow.html
+++ b/examples/timeline/18_range_overflow.html
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
       font-family: sans-serif;
     }
 
-    .vis-item.vis-range {
+    .vis-item .vis-item-frame {
       overflow: visible;
     }
   </style>
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
   In case of ranges being spread over a wide range of time, it can be interesting to have the text contents of the ranges overflow the box. This can be achieved by changing the overflow property of the contents to visible with css:
 </p>
 <pre>
-.vis.timeline .item.range {
+.vis-item .vis-item-frame {
   overflow: visible;
 }
 </pre>
diff --git a/gulpfile.js b/gulpfile.js
index 9462e594..88eb0fc0 100644
--- a/gulpfile.js
+++ b/gulpfile.js
@@ -80,16 +80,15 @@ gulp.task('bundle-js', ['clean'], function (cb) {
     if (err) {
       gutil.log(err.toString());
     }
-    if (stats !== undefined) {
-      if (stats['compilation'] !== undefined) {
-        // output soft errors
-        stats.compilation.errors.forEach(function (err) {
-          gutil.log(err);
-        });
-
-        if (err || stats.compilation.errors.length > 0) {
-          gutil.beep(); // TODO: this does not work on my system
-        }
+
+    if (stats && stats.compilation && stats.compilation.errors) {
+      // output soft errors
+      stats.compilation.errors.forEach(function (err) {
+        gutil.log(err);
+      });
+
+      if (err || stats.compilation.errors.length > 0) {
+        gutil.beep(); // TODO: this does not work on my system
       }
     }
     cb();
diff --git a/lib/timeline/component/css/item.css b/lib/timeline/component/css/item.css
index 46f852da..c69ecb0c 100644
--- a/lib/timeline/component/css/item.css
+++ b/lib/timeline/component/css/item.css
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
   border-width: 1px;
   background-color: #D5DDF6;
   display: inline-block;
-  overflow: hidden;
+  /*overflow: hidden;*/
 }
 
 .vis-item.vis-selected {
@@ -57,17 +57,23 @@
   margin: 0;
 }
 
+.vis-item .vis-item-frame {
+  position: relative;
+  width: 100%;
+  height: 100%;
+  padding: 0;
+  margin: 0;
+  overflow: hidden;
+}
+
 .vis-item.vis-range .vis-item-content {
   position: relative;
   display: inline-block;
-  max-width: 100%;
 }
 
 .vis-item.background .vis-item-content {
   position: absolute;
   display: inline-block;
-  max-width: 100%;
-  margin: 5px;
 }
 
 .vis-item.vis-line {
@@ -81,7 +87,7 @@
 .vis-item .vis-item-content {
   white-space: nowrap;
   box-sizing: border-box;
-  padding: 5px;
+  margin: 5px;
 }
 
 .vis-item .vis-delete {
@@ -98,6 +104,7 @@
   position: absolute;
   width: 24px;
   max-width: 20%;
+  min-width: 2px;
   height: 100%;
   top: 0;
   left: -4px;
@@ -109,6 +116,7 @@
   position: absolute;
   width: 24px;
   max-width: 20%;
+  min-width: 2px;
   height: 100%;
   top: 0;
   right: -4px;
diff --git a/lib/timeline/component/item/BackgroundItem.js b/lib/timeline/component/item/BackgroundItem.js
index 6ab6e165..62493dc6 100644
--- a/lib/timeline/component/item/BackgroundItem.js
+++ b/lib/timeline/component/item/BackgroundItem.js
@@ -33,8 +33,6 @@ function BackgroundItem (data, conversion, options) {
   }
 
   Item.call(this, data, conversion, options);
-
-  this.emptyContent = false;
 }
 
 BackgroundItem.prototype = new Item (null, null, null);
@@ -66,10 +64,15 @@ BackgroundItem.prototype.redraw = function() {
     dom.box = document.createElement('div');
     // className is updated in redraw()
 
+    // frame box (to prevent the item contents from overflowing
+    dom.frame = document.createElement('div');
+    dom.frame.className = 'vis-item-frame';
+    dom.box.appendChild(dom.frame);
+
     // contents box
     dom.content = document.createElement('div');
     dom.content.className = 'vis-item-content';
-    dom.box.appendChild(dom.content);
+    dom.frame.appendChild(dom.content);
 
     // Note: we do NOT attach this item as attribute to the DOM,
     //       such that background items cannot be selected
diff --git a/lib/timeline/component/item/RangeItem.js b/lib/timeline/component/item/RangeItem.js
index 625c805d..4a4fc72d 100644
--- a/lib/timeline/component/item/RangeItem.js
+++ b/lib/timeline/component/item/RangeItem.js
@@ -60,10 +60,15 @@ RangeItem.prototype.redraw = function() {
     dom.box = document.createElement('div');
     // className is updated in redraw()
 
+    // frame box (to prevent the item contents from overflowing
+    dom.frame = document.createElement('div');
+    dom.frame.className = 'vis-item-frame';
+    dom.box.appendChild(dom.frame);
+
     // contents box
     dom.content = document.createElement('div');
     dom.content.className = 'vis-item-content';
-    dom.box.appendChild(dom.content);
+    dom.frame.appendChild(dom.content);
 
     // attach this item as attribute
     dom.box['timeline-item'] = this;
@@ -100,7 +105,7 @@ RangeItem.prototype.redraw = function() {
     dom.box.className = this.baseClassName + className;
 
     // determine from css whether this box has overflow
-    this.overflow = window.getComputedStyle(dom.content).overflow !== 'hidden';
+    this.overflow = window.getComputedStyle(dom.frame).overflow !== 'hidden';
 
     // recalculate size
     // turn off max-width to be able to calculate the real width
diff --git a/test/timeline.html b/test/timeline.html
index 1d7315ae..3e4dd1ca 100644
--- a/test/timeline.html
+++ b/test/timeline.html
@@ -108,13 +108,13 @@
       title: 'hello title!'
     },
     {
-      _id: 4.1, content: 'item 4.1 test overflow foo bar foo bar foo bar foo bar foo bar',
+      _id: 4.1, content: 'item 4.1 test overflow foo bar foo bar foo bar',
       start: now.clone().add(0, 'days').toDate(),
       end: now.clone().add(1, 'days').toDate(),
       title: 'hello title!'
     },
     {
-      _id: 4.2, content: 'item 4.2 test overflow foo bar foo bar foo bar foo bar foo bar',
+      _id: 4.2, content: 'item 4.2 test overflow foo bar foo bar foo bar',
       start: now.clone().add(1, 'days').toDate(),
       end: now.clone().add(1, 'days').add(1, 'minutes').toDate(),
       title: 'hello title!'