diff --git a/src/js/sanitize.js b/src/js/sanitize.js
index 98e5687..a8e3156 100644
--- a/src/js/sanitize.js
+++ b/src/js/sanitize.js
@@ -147,6 +147,7 @@ svgedit.sanitize.sanitizeSvg = function(node) {
     if(!node.nodeValue.length) node.parentNode.removeChild(node);
   }
   if (node.nodeType != 1) return;
+
   var doc = node.ownerDocument;
   var parent = node.parentNode;
   // can parent ever be null here?  I think the root node's parent is the document...
@@ -195,7 +196,7 @@ svgedit.sanitize.sanitizeSvg = function(node) {
       
       // for the style attribute, rewrite it in terms of XML presentational attributes
       if (attrName == "style") {
-        var props = attr.nodeValue.split(";"),
+        var props = attr.nodeValue.replace(' ', '').split(";"),
           p = props.length;
         while(p--) {
           var nv = props[p].split(":");
@@ -220,7 +221,7 @@ svgedit.sanitize.sanitizeSvg = function(node) {
        "radialGradient", "textPath", "use"].indexOf(node.nodeName) >= 0)
     {
       // TODO: we simply check if the first character is a #, is this bullet-proof?
-      if (href[0] != "#") {
+      if (href[0] !== "#") {
         // remove the attribute (but keep the element)
         svgedit.utilities.setHref(node, "");
         node.removeAttributeNS(xlinkns, "href");
diff --git a/src/js/svgcanvas.js b/src/js/svgcanvas.js
index b39901f..4ce73be 100644
--- a/src/js/svgcanvas.js
+++ b/src/js/svgcanvas.js
@@ -5786,6 +5786,8 @@ this.setSvgString = function(xmlString) {
   try {
     // convert string into XML document
     var newDoc = svgedit.utilities.text2xml(xmlString);
+    //var parser = new DOMParser();
+    //var newDoc = parser.parseFromString(stringContainingXMLSource, "image/svg+xml");
 
     this.prepareSvg(newDoc);
 
diff --git a/src/js/svgutils.js b/src/js/svgutils.js
index eccec5b..ec75f57 100644
--- a/src/js/svgutils.js
+++ b/src/js/svgutils.js
@@ -218,6 +218,10 @@ svgedit.utilities.text2xml = function(sXML) {
     sXML = sXML.replace(/<(\/?)svg:/g, '<$1').replace('xmlns:svg', 'xmlns');
   }
 
+  if(sXML.indexOf('xlink:href') >= 0) {
+    sXML = sXML.replace('xlink:href', 'href');
+  }
+
   var out;
   try{
     var dXML = (window.DOMParser)?new DOMParser():new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM");