diff --git a/lib/webrat/core/field.rb b/lib/webrat/core/field.rb
index 82e02b2b..8555b8e8 100644
--- a/lib/webrat/core/field.rb
+++ b/lib/webrat/core/field.rb
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ def replace_param_value(params, oval, nval)
   class ButtonField < Field #:nodoc:
 
     def matches_text?(text)
-      @element.inner_html =~ /#{Regexp.escape(text.to_s)}/i
+      Webrat::XML.inner_html(@element) =~ /#{Regexp.escape(text.to_s)}/i
     end
     
     def matches_value?(value)
@@ -284,7 +284,7 @@ class TextareaField < Field #:nodoc:
   protected
 
     def default_value
-      @element.inner_html
+      Webrat::XML.inner_html(@element)
     end
 
   end
@@ -338,7 +338,7 @@ def default_value
       
       selected_options.map do |option|
         return "" if option.nil?
-        Webrat::XML.attribute(option, "value") || option.inner_html
+        Webrat::XML.attribute(option, "value") || Webrat::XML.inner_html(option)
       end
     end
 
diff --git a/lib/webrat/core/label.rb b/lib/webrat/core/label.rb
index 7a01521d..e2e08c01 100644
--- a/lib/webrat/core/label.rb
+++ b/lib/webrat/core/label.rb
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ def matches_text?(label_text)
     end
     
     def text
-      str = @element.inner_text
+      str = Webrat::XML.inner_text(@element)
       str.gsub!("\n","")
       str.strip!
       str.squeeze!(" ")
diff --git a/lib/webrat/core/link.rb b/lib/webrat/core/link.rb
index e1cdb3a7..272f7d9b 100644
--- a/lib/webrat/core/link.rb
+++ b/lib/webrat/core/link.rb
@@ -40,11 +40,11 @@ def matches_id?(id_or_regexp)
     end
 
     def inner_html
-      @element.inner_html
+      Webrat::XML.inner_html(@element)
     end
     
     def text
-      @element.inner_text
+      Webrat::XML.inner_text(@element)
     end
     
   protected
diff --git a/lib/webrat/core/matchers/have_content.rb b/lib/webrat/core/matchers/have_content.rb
index 8344ed24..2c4f43ee 100644
--- a/lib/webrat/core/matchers/have_content.rb
+++ b/lib/webrat/core/matchers/have_content.rb
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ def initialize(content)
       
       def matches?(stringlike)
         @document = Webrat::XML.document(stringlike)
-        @element = @document.inner_text
+        @element = Webrat::XML.inner_text(@document)
       
         case @content
         when String
diff --git a/lib/webrat/core/select_option.rb b/lib/webrat/core/select_option.rb
index f61a1627..1a2001f9 100644
--- a/lib/webrat/core/select_option.rb
+++ b/lib/webrat/core/select_option.rb
@@ -8,9 +8,9 @@ def initialize(select, element)
     
     def matches_text?(text)
       if text.is_a?(Regexp)
-        @element.inner_html =~ text
+        Webrat::XML.inner_html(@element) =~ text
       else
-        @element.inner_html == text.to_s
+        Webrat::XML.inner_html(@element) == text.to_s
       end
     end
     
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ def choose
   protected
   
     def value
-      Webrat::XML.attribute(@element, "value") || @element.inner_html
+      Webrat::XML.attribute(@element, "value") || Webrat::XML.inner_html(@element)
     end
     
   end
diff --git a/lib/webrat/core/xml.rb b/lib/webrat/core/xml.rb
index 1a2d302b..8a0de4e0 100644
--- a/lib/webrat/core/xml.rb
+++ b/lib/webrat/core/xml.rb
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ def self.document(stringlike) #:nodoc:
         Webrat.nokogiri_document(stringlike)
       else
         Webrat::XML.hpricot_document(stringlike)
+        # Webrat.rexml_document(Webrat::XML.hpricot_document(stringlike).to_html)
       end
     end
     
@@ -25,12 +26,26 @@ def self.hpricot_document(stringlike)
       end
     end
 
+    def self.inner_html(element)
+      element.inner_html
+    end
+    
+    def self.inner_text(element)
+      element.inner_text
+    end
+    
     def self.attribute(element, attribute_name)
-      element[attribute_name]
+      # case element
+      # when Nokogiri::XML::Element, Hash
+        element[attribute_name]
+      # else
+      #   element.attributes[attribute_name]
+      # end
     end    
     
     def self.xpath_search(element, *searches)
       searches.flatten.map do |search|
+        # REXML::XPath.match(element, search)
         element.xpath(search)
       end.flatten.compact
     end