diff --git a/lib/maruku/attributes.rb b/lib/maruku/attributes.rb
index 98ddc992..840554e2 100644
--- a/lib/maruku/attributes.rb
+++ b/lib/maruku/attributes.rb
@@ -206,10 +206,13 @@ module MaRuKu; module In; module Markdown; module SpanLevelParser
 			elsif after.kind_of? MDElement
 				after.al = e.ial
 			else
-				maruku_error "I don't know who you are referring to:"+
-					" {#{e.ial.to_md}}", src, con
+				maruku_error "It is not clear to me what element this IAL {:#{e.ial.to_md}} \n"+
+				"is referring to. The element before is a #{before.class.to_s}, \n"+
+				"the element after is a #{after.class.to_s}.\n"+
+				"\n before: #{before.inspect}"+
+				"\n after: #{after.inspect}",
+				src, con
 				# xxx dire se c'è empty vicino
-				maruku_recover "Ignoring IAL: {#{e.ial.to_md}}", src, con
 			end
 		end 
 		end
diff --git a/lib/maruku/input/parse_block.rb b/lib/maruku/input/parse_block.rb
index f142a300..bf7ec4d1 100644
--- a/lib/maruku/input/parse_block.rb
+++ b/lib/maruku/input/parse_block.rb
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ module MaRuKu; module In; module Markdown; module BlockLevelParser
 				when :raw_html; e = read_raw_html(src); output << e if e
 
 				when :footnote_text;   output.push read_footnote_text(src)
-				when :ref_definition;  output.push read_ref_definition(src)
+				when :ref_definition;  read_ref_definition(src, output)
 				when :abbreviation;    output.push read_abbreviation(src)
 				when :xml_instr;       read_xml_instruction(src, output)
 				when :metadata;        
@@ -452,7 +452,7 @@ module MaRuKu; module In; module Markdown; module BlockLevelParser
 	end
 	
 		
-	def read_ref_definition(src)
+	def read_ref_definition(src, out)	
 		line = src.shift_line
 		
 		# if link is incomplete, shift next line
@@ -465,7 +465,8 @@ module MaRuKu; module In; module Markdown; module BlockLevelParser
 		
 		match = LinkRegex.match(line)
 		if not match
-			error "Link does not respect format: '#{line}'"
+			maruku_error "Link does not respect format: '#{line}'"
+			return
 		end
 		
 		id = match[1]; url = match[2]; title = match[3]; 
@@ -487,7 +488,7 @@ module MaRuKu; module In; module Markdown; module BlockLevelParser
 		end
 #			puts hash.inspect
 		
-		return md_ref_def(id, url, meta={:title=>title})
+		out.push md_ref_def(id, url, meta={:title=>title})
 	end
 	
 	def read_table(src)
diff --git a/lib/maruku/input/parse_span_better.rb b/lib/maruku/input/parse_span_better.rb
index c256434b..c382c66b 100644
--- a/lib/maruku/input/parse_span_better.rb
+++ b/lib/maruku/input/parse_span_better.rb
@@ -278,7 +278,7 @@ module MaRuKu; module In; module Markdown; module SpanLevelParser
 	end
 
 	def extension_meta(src, con, break_on_chars)
-		if m = src.read_regexp(/(\w+):/)
+		if m = src.read_regexp(/([^\s\:]+):/)
 			name = m[1]
 			al = read_attribute_list(src, con, break_on_chars)
 #			puts "#{name}=#{al.inspect}"
diff --git a/lib/maruku/input/type_detection.rb b/lib/maruku/input/type_detection.rb
index b2985021..ef9c4277 100644
--- a/lib/maruku/input/type_detection.rb
+++ b/lib/maruku/input/type_detection.rb
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ module MaRuKu; module Strings
 	# This regex is taken from BlueCloth sources
 	# Link defs are in the form: ^[id]: \n? url "optional title"
 	LinkRegex = %r{
-		^[ ]*\[([^\]]+)\]:		# id = $1
+		^[ ]{0,3}\[([^\[\]]+)\]:		# id = $1
 		  [ ]*
 		<?(\S+)>?				# url = $2
 		  [ ]*
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ module MaRuKu; module Strings
 		)?	# title is optional
 	  }x
 
-	IncompleteLink = %r{^\s*\[(.+)\]:\s*$}
+	IncompleteLink = %r{^[ ]{0,3}\[([^\[\]]+)\]:\s*$}
 
 	HeaderWithId = /^(.*)\{\#([\w_-]+)\}\s*$/
 
diff --git a/lib/maruku/output/to_html.rb b/lib/maruku/output/to_html.rb
index 744dcd6f..e3ded8a9 100644
--- a/lib/maruku/output/to_html.rb
+++ b/lib/maruku/output/to_html.rb
@@ -762,7 +762,8 @@ of the form `#ff00ff`.
 			i += num_columns
 		end
 		
-		table = create_html_element 'table'
+		table = create_html_element 'table', 
+			[:summary, :width, :frame, :rules, :border, :cellspacing, :cellpadding]
 			thead = Element.new 'thead'
 			tr = Element.new 'tr'
 				array_to_html(head).each do |x| tr<<x end
diff --git a/lib/maruku/output/to_latex.rb b/lib/maruku/output/to_latex.rb
index 5569e08c..4ccb669c 100644
--- a/lib/maruku/output/to_latex.rb
+++ b/lib/maruku/output/to_latex.rb
@@ -127,7 +127,6 @@ will produce:
 \\usepackage{hyperref}
 \\usepackage{xspace}
 \\usepackage[usenames,dvipsnames]{color}
-\\usepackage[margin=1in]{geometry}
 \\hypersetup{colorlinks=true,urlcolor=blue}
 
 #{user_preamble}
@@ -550,13 +549,13 @@ Otherwise, a standard `verbatim` environment is used.
 		end
 		
 		# puts a space after commands if needed
-		e.each_index do |i|
-			if e[i] =~ /\\\w+\s*$/ # command
-				if (s=e[i+1]) && s[0] == ?\ # space
-					e[i]  = e[i] + "\\ "
-				end
-			end
-		end
+		# e.each_index do |i|
+		# 	if e[i] =~ /\\\w+\s*$/ # command
+		# 		if (s=e[i+1]) && s[0] == ?\ # space
+		# 			e[i]  = e[i] + "\\ "
+		# 		end
+		# 	end
+		# end
 		
 		e.join(join_char)
 	end
diff --git a/lib/maruku/output/to_latex_entities.rb b/lib/maruku/output/to_latex_entities.rb
index 4303fa89..c547f17e 100644
--- a/lib/maruku/output/to_latex_entities.rb
+++ b/lib/maruku/output/to_latex_entities.rb
@@ -42,12 +42,12 @@ module MaRuKu; module Out; module Latex
 			@doc.latex_require_package p
 		end
 		
-		if replace =~ /^\\/
-			replace = replace + " "
-		end
+#		if replace =~ /^\\/
+#			replace = replace + " "
+#		end
 		
  		if replace
-			return replace
+			return replace + "{}"
 		else
 			tell_user "Cannot translate entity #{entity_name.inspect} to LaTeX."
 			return entity_name