diff --git a/bristlecode.rb b/bristlecode.rb
index 935cdee..1a5b02a 100644
--- a/bristlecode.rb
+++ b/bristlecode.rb
@@ -27,12 +27,21 @@ module Bristlecode
     rule(:url_close) { str('[/url]') | eof }
     rule(:simple_href) { (url_close.absent? >> any).repeat }
     rule(:simple_url) { url_open >> simple_href.as(:href) >> url_close }
-    rule(:url) { simple_url.as(:url) }
+    rule(:url_title_open) { str('[url=') }
+    rule(:url_title_href) { (match(']').absent? >> any).repeat }
+    rule(:url_with_title) {
+      url_title_open >>
+      url_title_href.as(:href) >>
+      match(']') >>
+      children.as(:title) >>
+      url_close
+    }
+    rule(:url) { (simple_url | url_with_title).as(:url) }
 
     rule(:eof) { any.absent? }
     rule(:tag) { bold | italic | url | linebreak }
     rule(:elem) { text.as(:text) | tag }
-    rule(:tag_open) { bold_open | italic_open | url_open }
+    rule(:tag_open) { bold_open | italic_open | url_open | url_title_open }
     rule(:tag_close) { bold_close | italic_close | url_close }
     rule(:tag_delim) { tag_open | tag_close | linebreak }
 
@@ -70,6 +79,15 @@ module Bristlecode
 
     def initialize(text)
       self.text = text.to_str.strip
+      clean
+    end
+
+    def clean
+      text.gsub!('&', '&')
+      text.gsub!('<', '&lt;')
+      text.gsub!('>', '&gt;')
+      text.gsub!('"', '&quot;')
+      text.gsub!("'", '&apos;')
     end
 
     def to_html
@@ -80,16 +98,12 @@ module Bristlecode
   class Bold
     attr_accessor :children
 
-    def initialize(children)    
-      self.children = children
+    def initialize(children)
+      self.children = Doc.new(children)
     end
 
     def to_html
-      s = StringIO.new
-      s << "<b>"
-      children.each{|child| s << child.to_html }
-      s << "</b>"
-      s.string
+      "<b>#{children.to_html}</b>"
     end
   end
 
@@ -97,15 +111,11 @@ module Bristlecode
     attr_accessor :children
 
     def initialize(children)
-      self.children = children
+      self.children = Doc.new(children)
     end
 
     def to_html
-      s = StringIO.new
-      s << "<i>"
-      children.each{|child| s << child.to_html }
-      s << "</i>"
-      s.string
+      "<i>#{children.to_html}</i>"
     end
   end
 
@@ -114,11 +124,15 @@ module Bristlecode
 
     def initialize(args)
       self.href = args[:href].to_str.strip
-      self.title = args[:title] || href
+      if args.has_key? :title
+        self.title = Doc.new(args[:title])
+      else
+        self.title = Text.new(href)
+      end
     end
 
     def to_html
-      "<a href=\"#{href}\">#{title}</a>"
+      "<a href=\"#{href}\">#{title.to_html}</a>"
     end
   end
 
diff --git a/spec/bristlecode/parser_spec.rb b/spec/bristlecode/parser_spec.rb
index 1f45cc0..e948f62 100644
--- a/spec/bristlecode/parser_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/bristlecode/parser_spec.rb
@@ -17,6 +17,14 @@ module Bristlecode
       expect(to_html("      \t   \n    \n     \t")).to eq("")
     end
 
+    it 'handles special chars' do
+      expect(to_html('&')).to eq('&amp;')
+      expect(to_html('>')).to eq('&gt;')
+      expect(to_html('<')).to eq('&lt;')
+      expect(to_html("'")).to eq('&apos;')
+      expect(to_html('"')).to eq('&quot;')
+    end
+
     it 'handles plain text just fine' do
       expect(to_html("plaintext")).to eq("plaintext")
     end
@@ -62,6 +70,12 @@ module Bristlecode
       expect(to_html(input)).to eq(output)
     end
 
+    it 'handles urls with titles' do
+      input = '[url=google.com]the google[/url]'
+      output = '<a href="google.com">the google</a>'
+      expect(to_html(input)).to eq(output)
+    end
+
     it 'renders a linebreak' do
       expect(to_html('[br]')).to eq('<br>')
     end
@@ -157,6 +171,11 @@ module Bristlecode
     describe '#url' do
       it 'can parse correct urls' do
         expect(parser.url).to parse('[url]google.com[/url]')
+        expect(parser.url).to parse('[url=google.com]google[/url]')
+      end
+
+      it 'can parse title subtrees' do
+        expect(parser.url).to parse('[url=google.com]this is [b]google[/b] yo[/url]')
       end
 
       it "doesn't die on elements nested in simple urls" do