diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 44c33e957..32769c50f 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,11 @@
+2009-09-17  Wolfgang Sourdeau  <wsourdeau@inverse.ca>
+
+	* UI/PreferencesUI/UIxPreferences.m (-userComposeMessagesType):
+	return a default value of @"text" if the default compose type has
+	never been changed by the user. Otherwise, saving the preferences
+	will never enable the window to be closed since the new value will
+	always be different from nil.
+
 2009-09-17  Cyril Robert <crobert@inverse.ca>
 
 	* UI/Contacts/UIxListEditor.m: Renamed "name" to "listName"
diff --git a/UI/PreferencesUI/UIxPreferences.m b/UI/PreferencesUI/UIxPreferences.m
index 12c62520c..2d0703adb 100644
--- a/UI/PreferencesUI/UIxPreferences.m
+++ b/UI/PreferencesUI/UIxPreferences.m
@@ -627,7 +627,14 @@ static BOOL defaultShowSubscribedFoldersOnly = NO;
 
 - (NSString *) userComposeMessagesType
 {
-  return [userDefaults stringForKey: @"ComposeMessagesType"];
+  NSString *userComposeMessagesType;
+
+  userComposeMessagesType
+    = [userDefaults stringForKey: @"ComposeMessagesType"];
+  if (!userComposeMessagesType)
+    userComposeMessagesType = @"text";
+
+  return userComposeMessagesType;
 }
 
 - (void) setUserComposeMessagesType: (NSString *) newType