diff --git a/src/app/cursor.coffee b/src/app/cursor.coffee
index 0ace75a49..25689f589 100644
--- a/src/app/cursor.coffee
+++ b/src/app/cursor.coffee
@@ -17,9 +17,11 @@ class Cursor extends View
     @editor = editor
     @anchor = new Anchor(@editor, screenPosition)
     @selection = @editor.compositeSelection.addSelectionForCursor(this)
-    @one 'attach', =>
-      @updateAppearance()
-      @editor.syncCursorAnimations()
+
+  afterAttach: (onDom) ->
+    return unless onDom
+    @updateAppearance()
+    @editor.syncCursorAnimations()
 
   handleBufferChange: (e) ->
     @anchor.handleBufferChange(e)
diff --git a/src/app/editor.coffee b/src/app/editor.coffee
index df4a352bb..8b6219d6f 100644
--- a/src/app/editor.coffee
+++ b/src/app/editor.coffee
@@ -208,14 +208,15 @@ class Editor extends View
       else
         @gutter.addClass('drop-shadow')
 
-    @on 'attach', (e) =>
-      return if @attached
-      @attached = true
-      @calculateDimensions()
-      @hiddenInput.width(@charWidth)
-      @setMaxLineLength() if @softWrap
-      @focus() if @isFocused
-      @trigger 'editor-open', [this]
+
+  afterAttach: (onDom) ->
+    return if @attached or not onDom
+    @attached = true
+    @calculateDimensions()
+    @hiddenInput.width(@charWidth)
+    @setMaxLineLength() if @softWrap
+    @focus() if @isFocused
+    @trigger 'editor-open', [this]
 
   rootView: ->
     @parents('#root-view').view()
diff --git a/src/app/root-view.coffee b/src/app/root-view.coffee
index b39a240cd..e77ab3171 100644
--- a/src/app/root-view.coffee
+++ b/src/app/root-view.coffee
@@ -26,7 +26,6 @@ class RootView extends View
   initialize: ({ pathToOpen, projectPath, panesViewState }) ->
     @on 'toggle-file-finder', => @toggleFileFinder()
     @on 'show-console', => window.showConsole()
-    @one 'attach', => @focus()
     @on 'focus', (e) =>
       if @activeEditor()
         @activeEditor().focus()
@@ -50,6 +49,9 @@ class RootView extends View
 
     @deserializePanes(panesViewState) if panesViewState
 
+  afterAttach: (onDom) ->
+    @focus() if onDom
+
   serialize: ->
     projectPath: @project?.path
     panesViewState: @serializePanes()
diff --git a/vendor/space-pen.coffee b/vendor/space-pen.coffee
index bcbb3e811..dd2297770 100644
--- a/vendor/space-pen.coffee
+++ b/vendor/space-pen.coffee
@@ -62,10 +62,11 @@ class View extends jQuery
     [html, postProcessingSteps] = @constructor.buildHtml -> @content(args...)
     jQuery.fn.init.call(this, html)
     @constructor = jQuery # sadly, jQuery assumes this.constructor == jQuery in pushStack
+    throw new Error("View markup must have a single root element") if this.length != 1
     @wireOutlets(this)
     @bindEventHandlers(this)
     @find('*').andSelf().data('view', this)
-    @attr('triggerAttachEvents', true)
+    @attr('callAttachHooks', true)
     step(this) for step in postProcessingSteps
     @initialize?(args...)
 
@@ -165,9 +166,18 @@ class Builder
 jQuery.fn.view = -> this.data('view')
 
 # Trigger attach event when views are added to the DOM
-triggerAttachEvent = (element) ->
-  if element?.attr?('triggerAttachEvents') and element.parents('html').length
-    element.find('[triggerAttachEvents]').add(element).trigger('attach')
+callAttachHook = (element) ->
+  return unless element
+  onDom = element.parents?('html').length > 0
+
+  elementsWithHooks = []
+  elementsWithHooks.push(element[0]) if element.attr?('callAttachHooks')
+  elementsWithHooks = elementsWithHooks.concat(element.find?('[callAttachHooks]').toArray() ? []) if onDom
+
+  parent = element
+  for element in elementsWithHooks
+    view = $(element).view()
+    $(element).view()?.afterAttach?(onDom)
 
 for methodName in ['append', 'prepend', 'after', 'before']
   do (methodName) ->
@@ -175,7 +185,7 @@ for methodName in ['append', 'prepend', 'after', 'before']
     jQuery.fn[methodName] = (args...) ->
       flatArgs = [].concat args...
       result = originalMethod.apply(this, flatArgs)
-      triggerAttachEvent arg for arg in flatArgs
+      callAttachHook arg for arg in flatArgs
       result
 
 for methodName in ['prependTo', 'appendTo', 'insertAfter', 'insertBefore']
@@ -183,10 +193,9 @@ for methodName in ['prependTo', 'appendTo', 'insertAfter', 'insertBefore']
     originalMethod = $.fn[methodName]
     jQuery.fn[methodName] = (args...) ->
       result = originalMethod.apply(this, args)
-      triggerAttachEvent(this)
+      callAttachHook(this)
       result
 
 (exports ? this).View = View
 (exports ? this).$$ = (fn) -> View.render.call(View, fn)
 (exports ? this).$$$ = (fn) -> View.buildHtml.call(View, fn)[0]
-