diff --git a/app/assets/stylesheets/tracks.css.scss b/app/assets/stylesheets/tracks.css.scss
index bcd5d857..ac4c636d 100644
--- a/app/assets/stylesheets/tracks.css.scss
+++ b/app/assets/stylesheets/tracks.css.scss
@@ -1249,7 +1249,7 @@ table.export_table {
 /* Submit button styling from ParticleTree
 http://particletree.com/features/rediscovering-the-button-element/ */
 
-.widgets a, .widgets button{
+.widgets a, .widgets button {
     display:block;
     float: left;
     margin:0px 7px 0 0;
diff --git a/app/helpers/application_helper.rb b/app/helpers/application_helper.rb
index 06865bc5..b046cd1f 100644
--- a/app/helpers/application_helper.rb
+++ b/app/helpers/application_helper.rb
@@ -252,8 +252,10 @@ module ApplicationHelper
   
   def get_list_of_error_messages_for(model)
     if model.errors.any?
-      content_tag(:ul) do
-        model.errors.full_messages.collect { |msg| concat(content_tag(:li, msg)) }
+      content_tag(:div, {:id=>"errorExplanation"}) do
+        content_tag(:ul) do
+          model.errors.full_messages.collect { |msg| concat(content_tag(:li, msg)) }
+        end
       end
     end
   end
diff --git a/app/models/todo.rb b/app/models/todo.rb
index 36e16ab3..526ef0d7 100644
--- a/app/models/todo.rb
+++ b/app/models/todo.rb
@@ -207,7 +207,7 @@ class Todo < ActiveRecord::Base
   end
 
   def hidden?
-    return self.state == 'project_hidden' || ( self.context.hidden? && (self.state == 'active' || self.state == 'deferred'))
+    return self.project_hidden? || ( self.context.hidden? && (self.active? || self.deferred?))
   end
 
   def update_state_from_project
diff --git a/app/views/todos/_new_todo_form.html.erb b/app/views/todos/_new_todo_form.html.erb
index 4def4af2..bc616a86 100644
--- a/app/views/todos/_new_todo_form.html.erb
+++ b/app/views/todos/_new_todo_form.html.erb
@@ -7,13 +7,7 @@
     <input type="hidden" id="new_todo_starred" name="new_todo_starred" value="false" />
 
     <div id="error_status">
-      <% if todo.errors.any? -%>
-        <ul>
-          <% todo.errors.full_messages.each do |msg| %>
-            <li><%= msg %></li>
-          <% end %>
-        </ul>
-      <% end -%>
+      <%= get_list_of_error_messages_for(todo) %>
     </div>
 
     <label for="todo_description" style="float:left"><%= Todo.human_attribute_name('description') %></label>