diff --git a/src/ui/inputwin.c b/src/ui/inputwin.c
index 29a63130..4d25f832 100644
--- a/src/ui/inputwin.c
+++ b/src/ui/inputwin.c
@@ -148,7 +148,8 @@ create_input_window(void)
      * Fail gracefully instead of aborting in production.
      */
     if (MB_CUR_MAX > PROF_MB_CUR_MAX) {
-        cons_show_error("Your locale's MB_CUR_MAX (%zu) exceeds PROF_MB_CUR_MAX (%d); input window disabled.", (size_t)MB_CUR_MAX, PROF_MB_CUR_MAX);
+        log_error("Locale MB_CUR_MAX (%zu) exceeds compiled limit (%d)", (size_t)MB_CUR_MAX, PROF_MB_CUR_MAX);
+        cons_show_error("Unsupported locale. Before running, execute in terminal: export LC_ALL=C.UTF-8");
         return;
     }
 #ifdef NCURSES_REENTRANT
@@ -167,7 +168,7 @@ create_input_window(void)
 
     inp_win = newpad(1, INP_WIN_MAX);
     if (!inp_win) {
-        // Failed to allocate input pad; leave inp_win NULL and avoid further use
+        log_error("Failed to allocate input window pad");
         return;
     }
     wbkgd(inp_win, theme_attrs(THEME_INPUT_TEXT));
diff --git a/src/ui/statusbar.c b/src/ui/statusbar.c
index ff74881a..49b37e8b 100644
--- a/src/ui/statusbar.c
+++ b/src/ui/statusbar.c
@@ -40,6 +40,8 @@
 #include <string.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 
+#include "log.h"
+
 #ifdef HAVE_NCURSESW_NCURSES_H
 #include <ncursesw/ncurses.h>
 #elif HAVE_NCURSES_H
@@ -112,6 +114,7 @@ status_bar_init(void)
     int row = screen_statusbar_row();
     int cols = getmaxx(stdscr);
     if (cols <= 0) {
+        log_warning("status_bar_init: invalid cols %d, defaulting to 1", cols);
         cols = 1;
     }
     statusbar_win = newwin(1, cols, row, 0);
@@ -157,6 +160,7 @@ status_bar_resize(void)
     }
     int cols = getmaxx(stdscr);
     if (cols <= 0) {
+        log_warning("status_bar_resize: invalid cols %d, defaulting to 1", cols);
         cols = 1;
     }
     werase(statusbar_win);
diff --git a/src/ui/window.c b/src/ui/window.c
index a652426c..33fcac33 100644
--- a/src/ui/window.c
+++ b/src/ui/window.c
@@ -79,15 +79,7 @@ static void _win_print_wrapped(WINDOW* win, const char* const message, size_t in
 static int
 _check_subwin_width(int cols, int width)
 {
-    if (cols > 1) {
-        if (width < 1)
-            width = 1;
-        if (width >= cols)
-            width = cols - 1;
-    } else {
-        width = 1;
-    }
-    return width;
+    return cols <= 1 ? 1 : CLAMP(width, 1, cols - 1);
 }
 
 int