--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/amazing/helpers/pango_markup.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+module Amazing
+  module Helpers
+    module PangoMarkup
+      def span(text, opts)
+        attrs = opts.map {|key, value| "#{key}=#{value.to_s.inspect}" }.join(" ")
+        "<span #{attrs}>#{text}</span>"
+      end
+
+      def background(color, text)
+        span(text, :background => color)
+      end
+
+      def foreground(color, text)
+        span(text, :foreground => color)
+      end
+
+      def underline(text, style=:single)
+        span(text, :underline => style)
+      end
+
+      def bold(text, level=:bold)
+        span(text, :weight => level)
+      end
+    end
+  end
+end

--- a/lib/amazing/widget.rb
+++ b/lib/amazing/widget.rb
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 # Copyright (C) 2008 Dag Odenhall <dag.odenhall@gmail.com>
 # Licensed under the Academic Free License version 3.0
 
+require 'amazing/helpers/pango_markup'
 require 'erb'
 
 module Amazing
@@ -24,6 +25,7 @@ module Amazing
   #     end
   #   end
   class Widget
+    include Helpers::PangoMarkup
     include ERB::Util
 
     def initialize(opts={})