diff --git a/css/serialMonitor.css b/css/serialMonitor.css
index 1bc878d64c09ab04f76f2f2612e2c5195c496c51..662a7ace683f9923b9ea3c7be2fec0e01bcaa6a3 100644
--- a/css/serialMonitor.css
+++ b/css/serialMonitor.css
@@ -42,4 +42,12 @@
     position: absolute;
     margin-left: 10px;
     margin-top: 12px;
+  }
+
+  span.incoming {
+        color: #999;
+  }
+
+  span.outgoing {
+        font-weight:700;
   }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/js/SerialMonitor/SerialMonitor.js b/js/SerialMonitor/SerialMonitor.js
index cb2a7a0d307251677b1ba2788bf445473a81604c..e2f623c0b10fa11128ab1f56c53a5db0bd128c69 100644
--- a/js/SerialMonitor/SerialMonitor.js
+++ b/js/SerialMonitor/SerialMonitor.js
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ define(['backbone'], function(Backbone){
     var SerialMonitor = Backbone.Model.extend({
 
         defaults: {
-            autoscroll: false
+            autoscroll: true
         }
 
     });
diff --git a/js/SerialMonitor/SerialMonitorView.js b/js/SerialMonitor/SerialMonitorView.js
index 0e14802f98509e183db2e08ce4ceb12d4c989de9..20c4697be62a06016a1725f097bab425c498de61 100644
--- a/js/SerialMonitor/SerialMonitorView.js
+++ b/js/SerialMonitor/SerialMonitorView.js
@@ -62,8 +62,12 @@ define(['jquery', 'underscore', 'commParentMenu', 'serialComm', 'text!SerialMoni
             $("#serialMonitorOutput").html("");
         },
 
+        __sendMessage: function(message){
+            $("#serialMonitorOutput").append("<span class='outgoing'>" + message + "</span><br/>");
+        },
+
         _updateIncomingMessage: function(){
-            $("#serialMonitorOutput").append(serialComm.get("lastMessageReceived") + "<br/>");
+            $("#serialMonitorOutput").append("<span class='incoming'>" + serialComm.get("lastMessageReceived") + "</span><br/>");
         },
 
         template: _.template(template)
diff --git a/js/menus/CommParentMenu.js b/js/menus/CommParentMenu.js
index 3d3d8de92977534939bfcf2dab0beeab474f1377..3d802d5e5c0702a5bb8a1430b33d5d6279095774 100644
--- a/js/menus/CommParentMenu.js
+++ b/js/menus/CommParentMenu.js
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ define(['jquery', 'underscore', 'menuParent', 'plist', 'serialComm', 'commPlist'
             $("#sendSerialMessage").val("");
             if (message == "") return;
             serialComm.send(message);
+            if (this.__sendMessage) this.__sendMessage(message);
         },
 
         _updateIncomingMessage: function(){