diff --git a/build/jquery.localize.js b/build/jquery.localize.js
index 2386b41..368a999 100644
--- a/build/jquery.localize.js
+++ b/build/jquery.localize.js
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Generated by CoffeeScript 1.3.3
+// Generated by CoffeeScript 1.6.3
 (function() {
   var $, normaliseLang;
 
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@
         localizeImageElement(elem, key, value);
       } else if (elem.is('optgroup')) {
         localizeOptgroupElement(elem, key, value);
-      } else if (!$.isPlainObject(value)) {
+      } else if ((value !== null) && !$.isPlainObject(value)) {
         elem.html(value);
       }
       if ($.isPlainObject(value)) {
diff --git a/src/jquery.localize.coffee b/src/jquery.localize.coffee
index a2e843a..0ab6f81 100644
--- a/src/jquery.localize.coffee
+++ b/src/jquery.localize.coffee
@@ -78,7 +78,8 @@ $.localize = (pkg, options = {}) ->
     if          elem.is('input')       then localizeInputElement(elem, key, value)
     else if     elem.is('img')         then localizeImageElement(elem, key, value)
     else if     elem.is('optgroup')    then localizeOptgroupElement(elem, key, value)
-    else unless $.isPlainObject(value) then elem.html(value)
+    else if     (value != null) and not $.isPlainObject(value) \
+                                       then elem.html(value)
     localizeForSpecialKeys(elem, value) if $.isPlainObject(value)
 
   localizeInputElement = (elem, key, value) ->
diff --git a/test/localize_test.coffee b/test/localize_test.coffee
index d0a723f..a2497d1 100644
--- a/test/localize_test.coffee
+++ b/test/localize_test.coffee
@@ -42,6 +42,37 @@ test "basic tag text substitution for special title key", ->
   equals t.text(), "with_title text success"
   equals t.attr("title"), "with_title title success"
 
+test "span tag text substitution", ->
+  t = localizableTagWithRel("span", "basic", text: "basic fail")
+  t.localize("test", @testOpts)
+  equals t.text(), "basic success"
+
+test "span tag text substitution using data-localize instead of rel", ->
+  t = localizableTagWithDataLocalize("span", "basic", text: "basic fail")
+  t.localize("test", @testOpts)
+  equals t.text(), "basic success"
+
+test "span tag text substitution with nested key", ->
+  t = localizableTagWithRel("span", "test.nested", text: "nested fail")
+  t.localize("test", @testOpts)
+  equals t.text(), "nested success"
+
+test "span tag text substitution for special title key", ->
+  t = localizableTagWithDataLocalize("span", "with_title", text: "with_title element fail", title: "with_title title fail")
+  t.localize("test", @testOpts)
+  equals t.text(), "with_title text success"
+  equals t.attr("title"), "with_title title success"
+
+test "span tag text substitution with bad key does nothing", ->
+  t = localizableTagWithRel("span", "span.doesnt_exist", text: "span success")
+  t.localize("test", @testOpts)
+  equals t.text(), "span success"
+
+test "span tag text substitution using data-localize instead of rel with bad key does nothing", ->
+  t = localizableTagWithDataLocalize("span", "span.doesnt_exist", text: "span success")
+  t.localize("test", @testOpts)
+  equals t.text(), "span success"
+
 test "input tag value substitution", ->
   t = localizableTagWithRel("input", "test.input", val: "input fail")
   t.localize("test", @testOpts)
@@ -104,7 +135,7 @@ test "option tag text substitution", ->
 module "Options"
 
 test "pathPrefix loads lang files from custom path", ->
-  opts =  language: "fo", pathPrefix: "/test/lang/custom"
+  opts =  language: "fo", pathPrefix: "../test/lang/custom"
   t = localizableTagWithRel("p", "path_prefix", text: "pathPrefix fail")
   t.localize("test", opts)
   equals t.text(), "pathPrefix success"