diff --git a/web/source/keyboards/kmwkeyboards.ts b/web/source/keyboards/kmwkeyboards.ts
index ed62d5f296..d8bd6ec15d 100644
--- a/web/source/keyboards/kmwkeyboards.ts
+++ b/web/source/keyboards/kmwkeyboards.ts
@@ -570,11 +570,9 @@ namespace com.keyman.keyboards {
                 // Thanks, Closure errors.
                 if(!this.keymanweb.isEmbedded) {
                   util.wait(false);
-                  if (this.keymanweb.options.useAlerts) {
-                    util.alert(altString || msg, function() {
+                  util.internalAlert(altString || msg, function() {
                       this.keymanweb['setActiveKeyboard'](''); // The API call!
-                    }.bind(this));
-                  }
+                  }.bind(this));
                 }
 
                 switch(msgType) { // in case we extend this later.
@@ -949,9 +947,7 @@ namespace com.keyman.keyboards {
 
           if(typeof(x[i]['filename']) == 'string') {
             if(!this.addStub(x[i])) {
-              if (this.keymanweb.options.useAlerts) {
-                this.keymanweb.util.alert('To use a custom keyboard, you must specify file name, keyboard name, language, language code and region code.');
-              }
+              this.keymanweb.util.internalAlert('To use a custom keyboard, you must specify file name, keyboard name, language, language code and region code.');
             }
           } else {
             if(x[i]['language']) {
@@ -1331,9 +1327,7 @@ namespace com.keyman.keyboards {
     private alertLanguageUnavailable(languageName: string): string {
       let msg = 'No keyboards are available for '+ languageName + '. '
         +'Does it have another language name?';
-      if (this.keymanweb.options.useAlerts) {
-        this.keymanweb.util.alert(msg);
-      }
+      this.keymanweb.util.internalAlert(msg);
       return msg;
     }
 
@@ -1344,9 +1338,7 @@ namespace com.keyman.keyboards {
      *
      **/
     private serverUnavailable(cmd) {
-      if (this.keymanweb.options.useAlerts) {
-        this.keymanweb.util.alert(cmd == '' ? 'Unable to connect to Keyman Cloud server!' : cmd);
-      }
+      this.keymanweb.util.internalAlert(cmd == '' ? 'Unable to connect to Keyman Cloud server!' : cmd);
       this.keymanweb.warned=true;
     }
 
diff --git a/web/source/kmwutils.ts b/web/source/kmwutils.ts
index 1915d8f119..36f6f7211c 100644
--- a/web/source/kmwutils.ts
+++ b/web/source/kmwutils.ts
@@ -971,6 +971,18 @@ namespace com.keyman {
 
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Customized internal alert. This is enabled/disabled by the option flag 'useAlerts'
+     *
+     * @param     {string}        s       alert text
+     * @param     {function()=}   fn      function to call when alert dismissed
+     */
+     internalAlert(s: string, fn?: () => void): void {
+       if (this.keyman.options.useAlerts) {
+         this.alert(s, fn);
+       }
+     }
+
     /**
      *  Prepare the background and keyboard loading wait message box
      *  Should not be called before options are defined during initialization
diff --git a/web/source/osk/oskManager.ts b/web/source/osk/oskManager.ts
index 4cbea24ba2..04f089ac6c 100644
--- a/web/source/osk/oskManager.ts
+++ b/web/source/osk/oskManager.ts
@@ -465,10 +465,8 @@ namespace com.keyman.osk {
      */
     showBuild() {
       let keymanweb = com.keyman.singleton;
-      if (keymanweb.options.useAlerts) {
-        keymanweb.util.alert('KeymanWeb Version '+keymanweb['version']+'.'+keymanweb['build']+'<br /><br />'
+      keymanweb.util.internalAlert('KeymanWeb Version '+keymanweb['version']+'.'+keymanweb['build']+'<br /><br />'
           +'<span style="font-size:0.8em">Copyright &copy; 2017 SIL International</span>');
-      }
     }
 
     /**