diff --git a/src/libeinfo/libeinfo.c b/src/libeinfo/libeinfo.c
index 8a7613cc..234b1af8 100644
--- a/src/libeinfo/libeinfo.c
+++ b/src/libeinfo/libeinfo.c
@@ -643,7 +643,7 @@ static int EINFO_PRINTF(3, 0)
 		fprintf(f, "\n");
 	if (_eprefix)
 		fprintf(f, "%s%s%s|", _ecolor(f, color), _eprefix, _ecolor(f, ECOLOR_NORMAL));
-	fprintf(f, "%s*%s ", _ecolor(f, color), _ecolor(f, ECOLOR_NORMAL));
+	fprintf(f, " %s*%s ", _ecolor(f, color), _ecolor(f, ECOLOR_NORMAL));
 	retval += _eindent(f);
 	va_copy(ap, va);
 	retval += vfprintf(f, fmt, ap) + 3;
@@ -800,7 +800,7 @@ ebegin(const char *EINFO_RESTRICT fmt, ...)
 	va_start(ap, fmt);
 	retval = _einfovn(fmt, ap);
 	va_end(ap);
-	retval += printf("...");
+	retval += printf(" ...");
 	if (colour_terminal(stdout))
 		retval += printf("\n");
 	LASTCMD("ebegin");
@@ -817,7 +817,7 @@ _eend(FILE * EINFO_RESTRICT fp, int col, ECOLOR color, const char *msg)
 	if (!msg)
 		return;
 
-	cols = get_term_columns(fp) - (strlen(msg) + 3);
+	cols = get_term_columns(fp) - (strlen(msg) + 5);
 
 	/* cons25 is special - we need to remove one char, otherwise things
 	 * do not align properly at all. */
@@ -831,18 +831,15 @@ _eend(FILE * EINFO_RESTRICT fp, int col, ECOLOR color, const char *msg)
 	if (term_is_cons25)
 		cols--;
 
-	/* If extra spacing is required around msg, then please change
-	 * via a runtime knob and leave this default as is as it saves 2 
-	 * valuable columns when running on 80 column screens. */
 	if (cols > 0 && colour_terminal(fp)) {
-		fprintf(fp, "%s%s %s[%s%s%s]%s\n", up, tgoto(goto_column, 0, cols),
+		fprintf(fp, "%s%s %s[%s %s %s]%s\n", up, tgoto(goto_column, 0, cols),
 		    ecolor(ECOLOR_BRACKET), ecolor(color), msg,
 		    ecolor(ECOLOR_BRACKET), ecolor(ECOLOR_NORMAL));
 	} else {
 		if (col > 0)
 			for (i = 0; i < cols - col; i++)
 				fprintf(fp, " ");
-		fprintf(fp, " [%s]\n", msg);
+		fprintf(fp, " [ %s ]\n", msg);
 	}
 }
 
@@ -1030,7 +1027,7 @@ ebeginv(const char *EINFO_RESTRICT fmt, ...)
 
 	va_start(ap, fmt);
 	retval = _einfovn(fmt, ap);
-	retval += printf("...");
+	retval += printf(" ...");
 	if (colour_terminal(stdout))
 		retval += printf("\n");
 	va_end(ap);