diff --git a/src/helma/framework/core/Application.java b/src/helma/framework/core/Application.java
index 8732a5d4..3148dd2b 100644
--- a/src/helma/framework/core/Application.java
+++ b/src/helma/framework/core/Application.java
@@ -844,7 +844,7 @@ public final class Application implements IPathElement, Runnable {
 	    if (rootproto != null && rootproto.equals (getPrototypeName (p)))
 	        break;
 	    b.insert (0, divider);
-	    b.insert (0, URLEncoder.encode (getElementName (p)));
+	    b.insert (0, UrlEncoded.encode (getElementName (p)));
 	    p = getParentElement (p);
 
 	    if (loopWatch++ > 20)
@@ -852,7 +852,7 @@ public final class Application implements IPathElement, Runnable {
 	}
 
 	if (actionName != null)
-	    b.append (URLEncoder.encode (actionName));
+	    b.append (UrlEncoded.encode (actionName));
 
 	return baseURI + b.toString ();
     }
diff --git a/src/helma/util/UrlEncoded.java b/src/helma/util/UrlEncoded.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..fda0d10f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/helma/util/UrlEncoded.java
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+// UrlEncoded.java
+// (c) 2002 Hannes Wallnoefer
+
+package helma.util;
+
+import java.net.URLEncoder;
+
+
+/**
+ *  A proxy to java.net.URLEncoder which only encodes when 
+ *  there is actual work to do. This is necessary because 
+ *  URLEncoder is quite inefficient (e.g. it preallocates 
+ *  buffers and stuff), and we call it often with 
+ *  short string that don't need encoding.
+ */
+public final class UrlEncoded {
+
+
+    public static String encode (String str) {
+        int l = str.length();
+        boolean needsSpaceEncoding = false;
+        for (int i=0; i<l; i++) {
+            char c = str.charAt(i);
+            if (c == ' ') {
+                needsSpaceEncoding = true;
+            } else if (!(c>='a' && c<='z' ||
+                       c>='A' && c<='Z' ||
+                       c>='0' && c<='9')) {
+                return URLEncoder.encode (str);
+            }
+        }
+        if (needsSpaceEncoding)
+            return str.replace (' ', '+');
+        return str;
+    }
+
+}
\ No newline at end of file