diff --git a/cmd/dotty/dotty_draw.lefty b/cmd/dotty/dotty_draw.lefty
index cd67f3ef2bef01d407e68483322689d8fa22326c..2c10f85109e0a84b6987be0be175d38314b92017 100644
--- a/cmd/dotty/dotty_draw.lefty
+++ b/cmd/dotty/dotty_draw.lefty
@@ -158,6 +158,13 @@ dotty.protogt.movenode = function (gt, node, pos) {
     gt.undrawnode (gt, gt.views, node);
     node.pos.x = pos.x;
     node.pos.y = pos.y;
+    
+    # correct the bounding box when moving
+    node.rect[0].x = node.pos.x - node.size.x/2;
+    node.rect[1].x = node.pos.x + node.size.x/2;
+    node.rect[0].y = node.pos.y - node.size.y/2;
+    node.rect[1].y = node.pos.y + node.size.y/2;
+    
     gt.movenodedraw (node.draws, dp);
     for (eid in node.edges) {
         edge = node.edges[eid];
diff --git a/cmd/dotty/dotty_ui.lefty b/cmd/dotty/dotty_ui.lefty
index a8c91165dc9406acddd5591d4044ff9a3d37fa52..6fdec8f8b123548a3992340e54b5a9dc3aa5a11f 100644
--- a/cmd/dotty/dotty_ui.lefty
+++ b/cmd/dotty/dotty_ui.lefty
@@ -273,29 +273,38 @@ dotty.protovt.normal.uifuncs = [
             dotty.node2move = data.obj;
             dotty.movewidget = data.widget;
             dotty.rp2 = data.pos;
+            # save the previous object pos
+            dotty.node_ppos = data.obj.pos;
         }
     };
     'leftmove' = function (data) {
-        local gt;
+        local gt, offset_pos;
 
         gt = dotty.graphs[dotty.views[data.widget].gtid];
         if (dotty.node2move & (
             dotty.rp2.x ~= data.pos.x | dotty.rp2.y ~= data.pos.y
         )) {
-            gt.movenode (gt, dotty.node2move, data.pos);
+            # use an offset from the cursor to the node's pre-move position
+            offset_pos.x = data.pos.x - (dotty.rp2.x - dotty.node_ppos.x);
+            offset_pos.y = data.pos.y - (dotty.rp2.y - dotty.node_ppos.y);
+            gt.movenode (gt, dotty.node2move, offset_pos);
             dotty.rp2 = data.pos;
         }
     };
     'leftup' = function (data) {
-        local gt;
+        local gt, offset_pos;
 
         gt = dotty.graphs[dotty.views[data.widget].gtid];
         if (dotty.node2move) {
-            if (dotty.movewidget == data.widget)
-                gt.movenode (gt, dotty.node2move, data.pos);
+            if (dotty.movewidget == data.widget) {
+                offset_pos.x = data.pos.x - (dotty.rp2.x - dotty.node_ppos.x);
+                offset_pos.y = data.pos.y - (dotty.rp2.y - dotty.node_ppos.y);
+                gt.movenode (gt, dotty.node2move, offset_pos);
+            }
             dotty.node2move = 0;
         } else if (~data.obj)
             gt.insertnode (gt, data.pos, null, null, null, 1);
+        gt.redrawgraph(gt, gt.views);
     };
     'middledown' = function (data) {
         if (~(data.obj.nid >= 0))