diff --git a/custom notifications.lua b/custom notifications.lua
index 5d1636f..c3d5f97 100644
--- a/custom notifications.lua	
+++ b/custom notifications.lua	
@@ -1,26 +1,40 @@
 debug = true
 
-function debug_print(message)
+local function debug_print(message)
     if debug == true then
         Printf(tostring(message))
     end
 end
 
-function main(display_handle, args)
+
+local function split_first(inputstr, sep)
+    local sep = sep or ";"
+    local sep_pos = string.find(inputstr, sep)
+    if not sep_pos then
+        return inputstr, nil
+    end
+    local first = string.sub(inputstr, 1, sep_pos - 1)
+    local rest = string.sub(inputstr, sep_pos + 1)
+    return first, rest
+end
+
+local function main(display_handle, args)
     if args then
         timeout = 5
-        timeout, seperator, message = args.partition(";")
+        local timeoutStr, message = split_first(args, ";")
+        timeout = tonumber(timeoutStr) or timeout
+
         local messageTable = {
             title = "Notification!",
             message = tostring(message),
-            timeout = tonumber(timeout*1000),
+            timeout = timeout * 1000,  -- convert seconds to milliseconds
             timeoutResultCancel = false,
             timeoutResultID = 99,
         }
     
         local returnTable = MessageBox(messageTable)
     else
-        Printf('You must atleast specify your notification message. You can do this by running the following command: Plugin "custom notifications" "5;Hello this is a notification!"\nThis will create a message with a duration of 5 seconds.')
+        Printf('You must at least specify your notification message. Example:\nPlugin "custom notifications" "5;Hello this is a notification!"\nThis will create a message with a duration of 5 seconds.')
     end
 end