diff --git a/src/bench/page-init.sh b/src/bench/page-init.sh
index f54df627b..54712250b 100755
--- a/src/bench/page-init.sh
+++ b/src/bench/page-init.sh
@@ -10,5 +10,7 @@
 hyperfine \
   --warmup 10 \
   -n alloc \
-  "./zig-out/bin/bench-page-init --mode=alloc${ARGS} </tmp/ghostty_bench_data"
+  "./zig-out/bin/bench-page-init --mode=alloc${ARGS} </tmp/ghostty_bench_data" \
+  -n pool \
+  "./zig-out/bin/bench-page-init --mode=pool${ARGS} </tmp/ghostty_bench_data"
 
diff --git a/src/bench/page-init.zig b/src/bench/page-init.zig
index d00ab833d..3f5e006d1 100644
--- a/src/bench/page-init.zig
+++ b/src/bench/page-init.zig
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ const Args = struct {
     mode: Mode = .alloc,
 
     /// The number of pages to create sequentially.
-    count: usize = 208_235,
+    count: usize = 10_000,
 
     /// This is set by the CLI parser for deinit.
     _arena: ?ArenaAllocator = null,
@@ -28,6 +28,9 @@ const Args = struct {
 const Mode = enum {
     /// The default allocation strategy of the structure.
     alloc,
+
+    /// Use a memory pool to allocate pages from a backing buffer.
+    pool,
 };
 
 pub const std_options: std.Options = .{
@@ -50,11 +53,26 @@ pub fn main() !void {
     // Handle the modes that do not depend on terminal state first.
     switch (args.mode) {
         .alloc => try benchAlloc(args.count),
+        .pool => try benchPool(alloc, args.count),
     }
 }
 
 noinline fn benchAlloc(count: usize) !void {
     for (0..count) |_| {
-        _ = try terminal.new.Page.init(terminal.new.Page.std_capacity);
+        _ = try terminal.new.Page.init(terminal.new.page.std_capacity);
+    }
+}
+
+noinline fn benchPool(alloc: Allocator, count: usize) !void {
+    var list = try terminal.new.PageList.init(
+        alloc,
+        terminal.new.page.std_capacity.cols,
+        terminal.new.page.std_capacity.rows,
+        0,
+    );
+    defer list.deinit();
+
+    for (0..count) |_| {
+        _ = try list.grow();
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/terminal/new/PageList.zig b/src/terminal/new/PageList.zig
index e605f26e7..2f3d407dc 100644
--- a/src/terminal/new/PageList.zig
+++ b/src/terminal/new/PageList.zig
@@ -20,20 +20,6 @@ const Page = pagepkg.Page;
 /// window to scroll into quickly.
 const page_preheat = 4;
 
-/// The default number of unique styles per page we expect. It is currently
-/// "32" because anecdotally amongst a handful of beta testers, no one
-/// under normal terminal use ever used more than 32 unique styles in a
-/// single page. We found outliers but it was rare enough that we could
-/// allocate those when necessary.
-const page_default_styles = 32;
-
-/// Minimum rows we ever initialize a page with. This is wasted memory if
-/// too large, but saves us from allocating too many pages when a terminal
-/// is small. It also lets us scroll more before we have to allocate more.
-/// Tne number 100 is arbitrary. I'm open to changing it if we find a
-/// better number.
-const page_min_rows: size.CellCountInt = 100;
-
 /// The list of pages in the screen. These are expected to be in order
 /// where the first page is the topmost page (scrollback) and the last is
 /// the bottommost page (the current active page).
@@ -43,8 +29,14 @@ const List = std.DoublyLinkedList(Page);
 const Pool = std.heap.MemoryPool(List.Node);
 
 const std_capacity = pagepkg.std_capacity;
-const std_layout = Page.layout(std_capacity);
-const PagePool = std.heap.MemoryPoolAligned([std_layout.total_size]u8, std.mem.page_size);
+
+/// The memory pool we use for page memory buffers. We use a separate pool
+/// so we can allocate these with a page allocator. We have to use a page
+/// allocator because we need memory that is zero-initialized and page-aligned.
+const PagePool = std.heap.MemoryPoolAligned(
+    [Page.layout(std_capacity).total_size]u8,
+    std.mem.page_size,
+);
 
 /// The allocator to use for pages.
 alloc: Allocator,
@@ -81,6 +73,9 @@ pub const Viewport = union(enum) {
     active,
 };
 
+/// Initialize the page. The top of the first page in the list is always the
+/// top of the active area of the screen (important knowledge for quickly
+/// setting up cursors in Screen).
 pub fn init(
     alloc: Allocator,
     cols: size.CellCountInt,
@@ -99,35 +94,24 @@ pub fn init(
     errdefer page_pool.deinit();
 
     var page = try pool.create();
-    // no errdefer because the pool deinit will clean up the page
     const page_buf = try page_pool.create();
     if (comptime std.debug.runtime_safety) @memset(page_buf, 0);
+    // no errdefer because the pool deinit will clean these up
 
+    // Initialize the first set of pages to contain our viewport so that
+    // the top of the first page is always the active area.
     page.* = .{
         .data = Page.initBuf(
             OffsetBuf.init(page_buf),
             Page.layout(try std_capacity.adjust(.{ .cols = cols })),
         ),
     };
-    errdefer page.data.deinit(alloc);
+    assert(page.data.capacity.rows >= rows); // todo: handle this
     page.data.size.rows = rows;
 
     var page_list: List = .{};
     page_list.prepend(page);
 
-    // for (0..1) |_| {
-    //     const p = try pool.create();
-    //     p.* = .{
-    //         .data = try Page.init(alloc, .{
-    //             .cols = cols,
-    //             .rows = @max(rows, page_min_rows),
-    //             .styles = page_default_styles,
-    //         }),
-    //     };
-    //     p.data.size.rows = 0;
-    //     page_list.append(p);
-    // }
-
     return .{
         .alloc = alloc,
         .cols = cols,
diff --git a/src/terminal/new/Screen.zig b/src/terminal/new/Screen.zig
index 4d899a1fd..7f6552675 100644
--- a/src/terminal/new/Screen.zig
+++ b/src/terminal/new/Screen.zig
@@ -246,5 +246,5 @@ test "Screen read and write" {
     try s.testWriteString("hello, world");
     const str = try s.dumpStringAlloc(alloc, .{ .screen = .{} });
     defer alloc.free(str);
-    //try testing.expectEqualStrings("hello, world", str);
+    try testing.expectEqualStrings("hello, world", str);
 }
diff --git a/src/terminal/new/main.zig b/src/terminal/new/main.zig
index cac9fa6ab..312dafc16 100644
--- a/src/terminal/new/main.zig
+++ b/src/terminal/new/main.zig
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 const builtin = @import("builtin");
 
-const page = @import("page.zig");
+pub const page = @import("page.zig");
 pub const PageList = @import("PageList.zig");
 pub const Terminal = @import("Terminal.zig");
 pub const Page = page.Page;