diff --git a/app/webroot/index.php b/app/webroot/index.php
index 77b9db786dd..3c5e7158981 100644
--- a/app/webroot/index.php
+++ b/app/webroot/index.php
@@ -75,6 +75,6 @@
 		return;
 	}
 
-	require LIBS .  'Routing' . DS .'Dispatcher.php';
+	App::uses('Dispatcher', 'Routing');
 	$Dispatcher = new Dispatcher();
 	$Dispatcher->dispatch(new CakeRequest());
diff --git a/lib/Cake/Console/Command/Task/ProjectTask.php b/lib/Cake/Console/Command/Task/ProjectTask.php
index addf35a0083..19bd4ac01e1 100644
--- a/lib/Cake/Console/Command/Task/ProjectTask.php
+++ b/lib/Cake/Console/Command/Task/ProjectTask.php
@@ -52,14 +52,6 @@ public function execute() {
 			$project = $_SERVER['PWD'] . DS . $project;
 		}
 
-		if (empty($this->params['skel'])) {
-			$core = App::core('Console');
-			$skelPath = dirname($core[0]) . DS . 'templates' . DS . 'skel';
-			if (is_dir($skelPath) === true) {
-				$this->params['skel'] = $skelPath;
-			}
-		}
-
 		while (!$project) {
 			$prompt = __("What is the full path for this app including the app directory name?\n Example:");
 			$default = APP_PATH . 'myapp';
@@ -387,6 +379,7 @@ public function getOptionParser() {
 			))->addOption('empty', array(
 				'help' => __('Create empty files in each of the directories. Good if you are using git')
 			))->addOption('skel', array(
+				'default' => current(App::core('Console')) . DS . 'templates' . DS . 'skel',
 				'help' => __('The directory layout to use for the new application skeleton. Defaults to cake/console/templates/skel of CakePHP used to create the project.')
 			));
 	}
diff --git a/lib/Cake/Console/templates/default/views/home.ctp b/lib/Cake/Console/templates/default/views/home.ctp
index 22217b2fb8d..b707e5eb399 100644
--- a/lib/Cake/Console/templates/default/views/home.ctp
+++ b/lib/Cake/Console/templates/default/views/home.ctp
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 $output = "<h2>Sweet, \"" . Inflector::humanize($app) . "\" got Baked by CakePHP!</h2>\n";
 $output .="
 <?php
-App::import('Core', 'Debugger');
+App::uses('Debugger', 'Utility');
 if (Configure::read() > 0):
 	Debugger::checkSecurityKeys();
 endif;
@@ -52,27 +52,38 @@ endif;
 ?>
 </p>
 <?php
-if (!empty(\$filePresent)):
-	if (!class_exists('ConnectionManager')) {
-		require LIBS . 'model' . DS . 'connection_manager.php';
+if (isset(\$filePresent)):
+	App::uses('ConnectionManager', 'Model');
+	try {
+		\$connected = ConnectionManager::getDataSource('default');
+	} catch (Exception \$e) {
+		\$connected = false;
 	}
-	\$db = ConnectionManager::getInstance();
- 	\$connected = \$db->getDataSource('default');
 ?>
 <p>
+	<?php
+		if (\$connected && \$connected->isConnected()):
+			echo '<span class=\"notice success\">';
+	 			echo __('Cake is able to connect to the database.');
+			echo '</span>';
+		else:
+			echo '<span class=\"notice\">';
+				echo __('Cake is NOT able to connect to the database.');
+			echo '</span>';
+		endif;
+	?>
+</p>
+<?php endif;?>
 <?php
-	if (\$connected->isConnected()):
-		echo '<span class=\"notice success\">';
- 			echo __('Cake is able to connect to the database.');
-		echo '</span>';
-	else:
-		echo '<span class=\"notice\">';
-			echo __('Cake is NOT able to connect to the database.');
-		echo '</span>';
-	endif;
-?>
-</p>\n";
-$output .= "<?php endif;?>\n";
+	App::uses('Validation', 'Utility');
+	if (!Validation::alphaNumeric('cakephp')) {
+		echo '<p><span class=\"notice\">';
+		__('PCRE has not been compiled with Unicode support.');
+		echo '<br/>';
+		__('Recompile PCRE with Unicode support by adding <code>--enable-unicode-properties</code> when configuring');
+		echo '</span></p>';
+	}
+?>\n";
 $output .= "<h3><?php echo __('Editing this Page') ?></h3>\n";
 $output .= "<p>\n";
 $output .= "<?php\n";
diff --git a/lib/Cake/Console/templates/skel/webroot/index.php b/lib/Cake/Console/templates/skel/webroot/index.php
index f1ff8d1974d..77b9db786dd 100644
--- a/lib/Cake/Console/templates/skel/webroot/index.php
+++ b/lib/Cake/Console/templates/skel/webroot/index.php
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@
  *
  */
 	if (!defined('CAKE_CORE_INCLUDE_PATH')) {
-		define('CAKE_CORE_INCLUDE_PATH', ROOT);
+		define('CAKE_CORE_INCLUDE_PATH', ROOT . DS . 'lib');
 	}
 
 /**
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@
 		define('APP_PATH', ROOT . DS . APP_DIR . DS);
 		define('CORE_PATH', CAKE_CORE_INCLUDE_PATH . DS);
 	}
-	if (!include(CORE_PATH . 'cake' . DS . 'bootstrap.php')) {
+	if (!include(CORE_PATH . 'Cake' . DS . 'bootstrap.php')) {
 		trigger_error("CakePHP core could not be found.  Check the value of CAKE_CORE_INCLUDE_PATH in APP/webroot/index.php.  It should point to the directory containing your " . DS . "cake core directory and your " . DS . "vendors root directory.", E_USER_ERROR);
 	}
 
@@ -75,6 +75,6 @@
 		return;
 	}
 
-	require LIBS . 'dispatcher.php';
+	require LIBS .  'Routing' . DS .'Dispatcher.php';
 	$Dispatcher = new Dispatcher();
 	$Dispatcher->dispatch(new CakeRequest());
diff --git a/lib/Cake/View/pages/home.ctp b/lib/Cake/View/pages/home.ctp
index 4c51432de56..96aa8dfadb2 100644
--- a/lib/Cake/View/pages/home.ctp
+++ b/lib/Cake/View/pages/home.ctp
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
 if (Configure::read('debug') == 0):
 	throw new NotFoundException();
 endif;
-App::import('Core', 'Debugger');
+App::uses('Debugger', 'Utility');
 ?>
 <h2><?php echo __('Release Notes for CakePHP %s.', Configure::version()); ?></h2>
 <a href="http://cakephp.org/changelogs/1.3.6"><?php __('Read the changelog'); ?> </a>
@@ -71,16 +71,6 @@ endif;
 		endif;
 	?>
 </p>
-<?php
-	App::uses('Validation', 'Utility');
-	if (!Validation::alphaNumeric('cakephp')) {
-		echo '<p><span class="notice">';
-		__('PCRE has not been compiled with Unicode support.');
-		echo '<br/>';
-		__('Recompile PCRE with Unicode support by adding <code>--enable-unicode-properties</code> when configuring');
-		echo '</span></p>';
-	}
-?>
 <?php
 if (isset($filePresent)):
 	App::uses('ConnectionManager', 'Model');
@@ -104,6 +94,16 @@ if (isset($filePresent)):
 	?>
 </p>
 <?php endif;?>
+<?php
+	App::uses('Validation', 'Utility');
+	if (!Validation::alphaNumeric('cakephp')) {
+		echo '<p><span class="notice">';
+		__('PCRE has not been compiled with Unicode support.');
+		echo '<br/>';
+		__('Recompile PCRE with Unicode support by adding <code>--enable-unicode-properties</code> when configuring');
+		echo '</span></p>';
+	}
+?>
 <h3><?php echo __('Editing this Page'); ?></h3>
 <p>
 <?php