diff --git a/src/helma/objectmodel/db/helma.xsl b/src/helma/objectmodel/db/helma.xsl
index c9b612c3..efdc5896 100644
--- a/src/helma/objectmodel/db/helma.xsl
+++ b/src/helma/objectmodel/db/helma.xsl
@@ -8,9 +8,13 @@
 
 <xsl:output method="html"/>
 
-<xsl:template match="/">
-   <xsl:variable name="id" select="/xmlroot/hopobject/@id"/>
+<xsl:variable name="id" select="/xmlroot/hopobject/@id"/>
+<xsl:variable name="name" select="/xmlroot/hopobject/@name"/>
+<xsl:variable name="prototype" select="/xmlroot/hopobject/@prototype"/>
+<xsl:variable name="parent" select="/xmlroot/hopobject/hop:parent"/>
+<xsl:variable name="children" select="/xmlroot/hopobject/hop:child"/>
 
+<xsl:template match="/">
    <html>
    <head>
    <title><xsl:value-of select="$id"/>.xml (Hop XML Database File)</title>
@@ -18,6 +22,7 @@
    </head>  
    <body bgcolor="white">
 
+   <!-- main navigation -->
    <h2>
    <xsl:if test="$id = 0">root</xsl:if>
    <xsl:if test="$id &gt; 0">
@@ -25,31 +30,28 @@
    </xsl:if>
    </h2>
 
+   <!-- table header -->
    <table border="0" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="5" bgcolor="gray">
    <tr bgcolor="white">
    <th>Name</th>
    <th>Value</th>
    </tr>
 
-   <xsl:variable name="name" select="/xmlroot/hopobject/@name"/>
+   <!-- _name, _prototype and _parent properties -->
    <xsl:if test="$name">
-      <xsl:call-template name="property">
+      <xsl:call-template name="getOutputItem">
          <xsl:with-param name="name">_name</xsl:with-param>
          <xsl:with-param name="value" select="$name"/>
       </xsl:call-template>
    </xsl:if>
-
-   <xsl:variable name="prototype" select="/xmlroot/hopobject/@prototype"/>
    <xsl:if test="$prototype">
-      <xsl:call-template name="property">
+      <xsl:call-template name="getOutputItem">
          <xsl:with-param name="name">_prototype</xsl:with-param>
          <xsl:with-param name="value" select="$prototype"/>
       </xsl:call-template>
    </xsl:if>
-
-   <xsl:variable name="parent" select="/xmlroot/hopobject/hop:parent"/>
    <xsl:if test="$parent">
-      <xsl:call-template name="property">
+      <xsl:call-template name="getOutputItem">
          <xsl:with-param name="name">_parent</xsl:with-param>
          <xsl:with-param name="value">
             HopObject <xsl:value-of select="$parent/@idref"/>
@@ -60,12 +62,12 @@
       </xsl:call-template>
    </xsl:if>
 
-   <xsl:variable name="children" select="/xmlroot/hopobject/hop:child"/>
+   <!-- _children collection -->
    <xsl:if test="count($children) &gt; 0">
       <tr bgcolor="white">
       <td valign="top" nowrap="nowrap">_children</td>
       <td>
-      <xsl:for-each select="/xmlroot/hopobject/hop:child">
+      <xsl:for-each select="$children">
          <xsl:sort select="@idref" data-type="number"/>
          <a href="{@idref}.xml"><nowrap><xsl:value-of select="@prototyperef"/>
          <xsl:text> </xsl:text><xsl:value-of select="@idref"/></nowrap></a>
@@ -77,22 +79,16 @@
       </tr>
    </xsl:if>
 
+   <!-- primitive properties -->
    <xsl:for-each select="/xmlroot/hopobject/*">
-      <xsl:sort select="normalize-space(concat(@propertyname, ' ' , name()))"/>
+      <xsl:sort select="concat(@propertyname, name())"/>
       <xsl:choose>
          <xsl:when test="name() = 'hop:parent'"/>
          <xsl:when test="name() = 'hop:child'"/>
          <xsl:when test="@idref">
-            <xsl:call-template name="property">
+            <xsl:call-template name="getOutputItem">
                <xsl:with-param name="name">
-                  <!-- if element name is "property", property name is in an attribute called
-                       "propertyname". Otherwise, the element name is the property name -->
-                  <xsl:if test="name() = 'property'">
-                     <xsl:value-of select="@propertyname"/>
-                  </xsl:if>
-                  <xsl:if test="name() != 'property'">
-                     <xsl:value-of select="name()"/>
-                  </xsl:if>
+                  <xsl:call-template name="getPropertyName"/>
                </xsl:with-param>
                <xsl:with-param name="value">
                   HopObject <xsl:value-of select="@idref"/>
@@ -103,16 +99,9 @@
             </xsl:call-template>
          </xsl:when>
          <xsl:otherwise>
-            <xsl:call-template name="property">
+            <xsl:call-template name="getOutputItem">
                <xsl:with-param name="name">
-                  <!-- if element name is "property", property name is in an attribute called
-                       "propertyname". Otherwise, the element name is the property name -->
-                  <xsl:if test="name() = 'property'">
-                     <xsl:value-of select="@propertyname"/>
-                  </xsl:if>
-                  <xsl:if test="name() != 'property'">
-                     <xsl:value-of select="name()"/>
-                  </xsl:if>
+                  <xsl:call-template name="getPropertyName"/>
                </xsl:with-param>
                <xsl:with-param name="value"><xsl:value-of select="text()"/></xsl:with-param>
             </xsl:call-template>
@@ -125,39 +114,56 @@
    </html>
 </xsl:template>
 
-<xsl:template name="property">
+<!-- helper template to compose a hopobject's name -->
+<xsl:template name="getName">
+   <xsl:param name="name"/>
+   <xsl:choose>
+      <xsl:when test="substring-after($name, 'HopObject ') = '0'">
+         root
+      </xsl:when>
+      <xsl:otherwise>
+         <xsl:value-of select="$name"/>
+      </xsl:otherwise>
+   </xsl:choose>
+</xsl:template>
+
+<!-- helper template to compose a property's name: if the element's 
+     name is "property", the property name is in an attribute called
+     "propertyname". Otherwise, the element name is the element's name -->
+<xsl:template name="getPropertyName">
+   <xsl:choose>
+      <xsl:when test="name() = 'property'">
+         <xsl:value-of select="@propertyname"/>
+      </xsl:when>
+      <xsl:otherwise>
+         <xsl:value-of select="name()"/>
+      </xsl:otherwise>
+   </xsl:choose>
+</xsl:template>
+
+<!-- helper template to compose a table row containing a property's data -->
+<xsl:template name="getOutputItem">
    <xsl:param name="name"/>
-   <xsl:param name="type"/>
-   <xsl:param name="href"/>
    <xsl:param name="value"/>
-   <xsl:param name="display">
+   <xsl:param name="href"/>
+
+   <xsl:variable name="display">
       <xsl:call-template name="getName">
          <xsl:with-param name="name" select="$value"/>
       </xsl:call-template>
-   </xsl:param>
+   </xsl:variable>
 
    <tr bgcolor="white">
    <td valign="top" nowrap="nowrap"><xsl:value-of select="$name"/></td>
-   <td><xsl:if test="$href">
-      <a href="{$href}"><xsl:value-of select="$display"/></a>
-   </xsl:if>
-   <xsl:if test="$href = ''">
-      <xsl:value-of select="$display"/>
-   </xsl:if>
-
-</td>
+   <td><xsl:choose>
+      <xsl:when test="$href">
+         <a href="{$href}"><xsl:value-of select="$display"/></a>
+      </xsl:when>
+      <xsl:otherwise>
+         <xsl:value-of select="$display"/>
+      </xsl:otherwise>
+   </xsl:choose></td>
    </tr>
 </xsl:template>
 
-<xsl:template name="getName">
-   <xsl:param name="name"/>
-   <xsl:param name="isRoot" select="substring-after($name, 'HopObject ') = '0'"/>
-   <xsl:if test="$isRoot">
-      root
-   </xsl:if>
-   <xsl:if test="$isRoot = false">
-      <xsl:value-of select="$name"/>
-   </xsl:if>
-</xsl:template>
-
 </xsl:stylesheet>
