diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/alert-display.coffee b/app/assets/javascripts/alert-display.coffee
index 31038a00f..c6f58840f 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/alert-display.coffee
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/alert-display.coffee
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ class AlertDisplay
         show: (_, title, message, frames) ->
           if @get('isActive')
             @set('title', "#{@get('title')} / #{title}")
-            @set('message', "#{@get('message')}<br/><br/>Next message: #{message}")
+            @set('message', "#{message}<br/><br/>Next message: #{@get('message')}")
           else
             @set('title', title)
             @set('message', message)
@@ -233,6 +233,11 @@ class AlertDisplay
         message = AlertDisplay.makeCompilerErrorMessage(errors).join('<br/>')
         if source is 'compile-fatal'
           @_ractive.set('isDismissable', false)
+        message = if not @_ractive.get('isActive') then message else
+          """There was an error compiling the model's code:<br/><br/>
+          #{message}<br/><br/>
+          The below errors were generated by the widgets, but they may be
+          caused by the above compilation issues in the model's code."""
         @reportError(message)
 
     return