diff --git a/e107_core/shortcodes/batch/news_shortcodes.php b/e107_core/shortcodes/batch/news_shortcodes.php
index 16d8e6c5a..bac868fec 100644
--- a/e107_core/shortcodes/batch/news_shortcodes.php
+++ b/e107_core/shortcodes/batch/news_shortcodes.php
@@ -84,13 +84,15 @@ class news_shortcodes extends e_shortcode
 
 	function sc_newscomments($parm)
 	{
+		
 		$pref = e107::getPref();
 		$sql = e107::getDb();
 		
 		if($pref['comments_disabled'] == 1)
 		{
-			return;
+			return "Disabled";
 		}
+		
 		$news_item = $this->news_item;
 		$param = $this->param;
 
@@ -123,7 +125,7 @@ class news_shortcodes extends e_shortcode
 		{
 			$NEWIMAGE = $param['image_nonew_small'];
 		}
-		return (!$news_item['news_allow_comments'] ? ''.($pref['comments_icon'] ? $NEWIMAGE : '')." <a href='".e107::getUrl()->create('news/view/item', $news_item)."'>".$param['commentlink'].$news_item['news_comment_total'].'</a>' : $param['commentoffstring']);
+		return (!$news_item['news_allow_comments'] ? ''.($pref['comments_icon'] ? $NEWIMAGE : '')." <a href='".e107::getUrl()->create('news/view/item', $news_item)."'>".$param['commentlink'].intval($news_item['news_comment_total']).'</a>' : vartrue($param['commentoffstring'],'Disabled') );
 	}
 
 	function sc_trackback($parm)
@@ -452,15 +454,26 @@ class news_shortcodes extends e_shortcode
 		return $info;
 	}
 
-	function sc_newstags($parm=5)
+	function sc_newstags($parm='')
 	{
 		$tmp = explode(",",$this->news_item['news_meta_keywords']);
 		$words = array();
 		foreach($tmp as $val)
 		{
-			$words[] = "<a href='".e_BASE."news.php?tag=".$val."'><span class='label'>".$val."</span></a>";	
+			if(trim($val))
+			{
+				$words[] = "<a href='".e_BASE."news.php?tag=".$val."'><span class='label'>".$val."</span></a>";	
+			}
 		}
-		return implode(", ",$words);			
+		
+		if(count($words))
+		{
+			return implode("",$words);
+		}
+		else 
+		{
+			return "None";
+		}			
 	}
 
 }
diff --git a/e107_plugins/news/templates/news_template.php b/e107_plugins/news/templates/news_template.php
index cd79797cf..29d1968c0 100644
--- a/e107_plugins/news/templates/news_template.php
+++ b/e107_plugins/news/templates/news_template.php
@@ -71,6 +71,7 @@ $NEWS_TEMPLATE['list']['item'] = '
 ';
 */
 // Attempt at bootstrap style 
+// XXX As displayed by news.php (no query) or news.php?list.1.1 (ie. regular view of a particular category)
 $NEWS_TEMPLATE['default']['item'] = '
 	{SETIMAGE: w=600}
 	<div class="view-item">
diff --git a/e107_themes/bootstrap/style.css b/e107_themes/bootstrap/style.css
index a8ed4ef9c..bb0aef0d3 100644
--- a/e107_themes/bootstrap/style.css
+++ b/e107_themes/bootstrap/style.css
@@ -71,12 +71,14 @@ legend { font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; padding: 5px; }
 
 
 /******** News item styling */
+
 .post-meta { margin: -7px 0 10px; }
 .post-meta span { margin-right: 7px; margin-bottom: 0; padding-right: 10px; white-space: nowrap; border-right: 1px solid #dddddd; font-size: 12px; }
-.post-meta span:last-child { margin: 0; padding: 0; border: none; }
+.post-meta span:last-child {  border: none; }
 .post-meta span i[class^="icon-"] { margin-right: 7px; }
 
 .news_image { margin-bottom: 10px; }
+div.view-item	{ margin-bottom:50px }
 
 /******** FEATUREBOX PLUGIN */
 #featurebox-ajax-container { display: block }