diff --git a/backend/backend.go b/backend/backend.go
index c80841e..59df4d7 100644
--- a/backend/backend.go
+++ b/backend/backend.go
@@ -6,11 +6,13 @@ import "gopkg.in/hlandau/madns.v1/merr"
 import "github.com/hlandau/ncdns/namecoin"
 import "github.com/hlandau/ncdns/util"
 import "github.com/hlandau/ncdns/ncdomain"
+import "github.com/hlandau/xlog"
 import "sync"
 import "fmt"
 import "net"
 import "net/mail"
 import "strings"
+import "time"
 
 // Provides an abstract zone file for the Namecoin .bit TLD.
 type Backend struct {
@@ -23,6 +25,8 @@ type Backend struct {
 
 const defaultMaxEntries = 100
 
+var log, Log = xlog.New("ncdns.backend")
+
 // Backend configuration.
 type Config struct {
 	NamecoinConn namecoin.Conn
@@ -337,12 +341,22 @@ func (b *Backend) resolveName(name string) (jsonValue string, err error) {
 		return fv, nil
 	}
 
-	v, err := b.nc.Query(name)
-	if err != nil {
-		return "", err
-	}
+	// The btcjson package has quite a long timeout, far in excess of standard
+	// DNS timeouts. We need to return an error response rapidly if we can't
+	// query the backend. Be generous with the timeout as responses from the
+	// Namecoin JSON-RPC seem sluggish sometimes.
+	result := make(chan struct{}, 1)
+	go func() {
+		jsonValue, err = b.nc.Query(name)
+		result <- struct{}{}
+	}()
 
-	return v, nil
+	select {
+	case <-result:
+		return
+	case <-time.After(1500 * time.Millisecond):
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("timeout")
+	}
 }
 
 func (b *Backend) jsonToDomain(name, jsonValue string) (*domain, error) {
diff --git a/server/server.go b/server/server.go
index d873259..8a118da 100644
--- a/server/server.go
+++ b/server/server.go
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 package server
 
 import "gopkg.in/hlandau/madns.v1"
-import "github.com/hlandau/degoutils/log"
 import "github.com/hlandau/ncdns/backend"
 import "github.com/hlandau/ncdns/namecoin"
 import "github.com/miekg/dns"
@@ -12,9 +11,12 @@ import "sync"
 import "strings"
 import "path/filepath"
 import "crypto"
+import "github.com/hlandau/xlog"
 
 const version = "1.0"
 
+var log, Log = xlog.New("ncdns.server")
+
 type Server struct {
 	cfg ServerConfig
 
@@ -49,6 +51,8 @@ type ServerConfig struct {
 	Hostmaster           string `default:"" usage:"Hostmaster e. mail address"`
 	VanityIPs            string `default:"" usage:"Comma separated list of IP addresses to place in A/AAAA records at the zone apex (default: don't add any records)"`
 	vanityIPs            []net.IP
+	TplSet               string `default:"std" usage:"The template set to use"`
+	TplPath              string `default:"" usage:"The path to the tpl directory (empty: autodetect)"`
 
 	ConfigDir string // path to interpret filenames relative to
 }
@@ -170,7 +174,6 @@ func (s *Server) loadKey(fn, privateFn string) (k *dns.DNSKEY, privatek crypto.P
 }
 
 func (s *Server) Start() error {
-
 	s.mux = dns.NewServeMux()
 	s.mux.Handle(".", s.engine)
 
@@ -179,6 +182,7 @@ func (s *Server) Start() error {
 	s.tcpListener = s.runListener("tcp")
 	s.wgStart.Wait()
 
+	log.Info("Listeners started")
 	return nil
 }
 
diff --git a/server/web.go b/server/web.go
index 5d73044..43b0627 100644
--- a/server/web.go
+++ b/server/web.go
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ package server
 
 import "net/http"
 import "html/template"
-import "github.com/hlandau/degoutils/log"
 import "github.com/hlandau/ncdns/util"
 import "github.com/hlandau/ncdns/ncdomain"
 import "github.com/miekg/dns"
@@ -11,35 +10,28 @@ import "path/filepath"
 import "time"
 import "strings"
 import "fmt"
-import "flag"
 
 var layoutTpl *template.Template
 var mainPageTpl *template.Template
 var lookupPageTpl *template.Template
 
-var tplSetFlag = flag.String("tplset", "std", "Subdirectory of tpl/ to look for templates in (default: std)")
-
-func initTemplates(configDir string) error {
+func (s *Server) initTemplates() error {
 	if lookupPageTpl != nil {
 		return nil
 	}
 
-	if *tplSetFlag == "" {
-		*tplSetFlag = "std"
-	}
-
 	var err error
-	layoutTpl, err = template.ParseFiles(tplFilename(configDir, "layout"))
+	layoutTpl, err = template.ParseFiles(s.tplFilename("layout"))
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 
-	mainPageTpl, err = deriveTemplate(tplFilename(configDir, "main"))
+	mainPageTpl, err = deriveTemplate(s.tplFilename("main"))
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 
-	lookupPageTpl, err = deriveTemplate(tplFilename(configDir, "lookup"))
+	lookupPageTpl, err = deriveTemplate(s.tplFilename("lookup"))
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
@@ -55,9 +47,13 @@ func deriveTemplate(filename string) (*template.Template, error) {
 	return cl.ParseFiles(filename)
 }
 
-func tplFilename(configDir, filename string) string {
-	s := "tpl/" + *tplSetFlag + "/" + filename + ".tpl"
-	return filepath.Join(configDir, "..", s)
+func (s *Server) tplFilename(filename string) string {
+	td := filepath.Join(s.cfg.ConfigDir, "..", "tpl")
+	if s.cfg.TplPath != "" {
+		td = s.cfg.TplPath
+	}
+
+	return filepath.Join(td, s.cfg.TplSet, filename+".tpl")
 }
 
 type webServer struct {
@@ -83,6 +79,11 @@ func (ws *webServer) layoutInfo() *layoutInfo {
 		cshtml = `<span id="logo1">` + csparts[0] + `</span><span id="logo2">.</span><span id="logo3">` + csparts[1] + `</span>`
 	}
 
+	var tld string
+	if len(csparts) > 1 {
+		tld = "." + csparts[1]
+	}
+
 	li := &layoutInfo{
 		SelfName:             ws.s.ServerName(),
 		Time:                 time.Now().Format("2006-01-02 15:04:05"),
@@ -90,7 +91,7 @@ func (ws *webServer) layoutInfo() *layoutInfo {
 		CanonicalNameservers: ws.s.cfg.canonicalNameservers,
 		Hostmaster:           ws.s.cfg.Hostmaster,
 		CanonicalSuffixHTML:  template.HTML(cshtml),
-		TLD:                  "." + csparts[1],
+		TLD:                  tld,
 		HasDNSSEC:            ws.s.cfg.ZonePublicKey != "",
 	}
 
@@ -200,7 +201,7 @@ func clearAllCookies(rw http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request) {
 }
 
 func webStart(listenAddr string, server *Server) error {
-	err := initTemplates(server.cfg.ConfigDir)
+	err := server.initTemplates()
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}