diff --git a/heist.cabal b/heist.cabal
--- a/heist.cabal
+++ b/heist.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 name:           heist
-version:        0.2.2
+version:        0.2.3
 synopsis:       An xhtml templating system
 license:        BSD3
 license-file:   LICENSE
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@
     directory,
     directory-tree,
     filepath,
-    hexpat >= 0.16 && <0.17,
+    hexpat >= 0.18.2 && <0.19,
     MonadCatchIO-transformers >= 0.2.1 && < 0.3,
     monads-fd,
     process,
diff --git a/src/Text/Templating/Heist.hs b/src/Text/Templating/Heist.hs
--- a/src/Text/Templating/Heist.hs
+++ b/src/Text/Templating/Heist.hs
@@ -22,8 +22,11 @@
   @getUser :: MyAppMonad (Maybe ByteString)@ that gets the current user.
   You can implement this functionality with a 'Splice' as follows:
 
-  >
-  > import Text.XML.Expat.Tree
+  > import             Data.ByteString.Char8 (ByteString)
+  > import qualified   Data.ByteString.Char8 as B
+  > import qualified   Text.XML.Expat.Tree as X
+  > 
+  > import             Text.Templating.Heist
   >
   > link :: ByteString -> ByteString -> Node
   > link target text = X.Element "a" [("href", target)] [X.Text text]
@@ -103,6 +106,7 @@
   , callTemplate
   , renderTemplate
   , bindStrings
+  , bindString
 
     -- * Misc functions
   , getDoc
diff --git a/src/Text/Templating/Heist/Constants.hs b/src/Text/Templating/Heist/Constants.hs
--- a/src/Text/Templating/Heist/Constants.hs
+++ b/src/Text/Templating/Heist/Constants.hs
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
 heistExpatOptions :: ParserOptions ByteString ByteString
 heistExpatOptions =
     defaultParserOptions {
-           parserEncoding = Just UTF8
+           overrideEncoding = Just UTF8
          , entityDecoder  = Just (\k -> Map.lookup k htmlEntityLookupTable)
          }
 
diff --git a/src/Text/Templating/Heist/Internal.hs b/src/Text/Templating/Heist/Internal.hs
--- a/src/Text/Templating/Heist/Internal.hs
+++ b/src/Text/Templating/Heist/Internal.hs
@@ -192,10 +192,11 @@
 -- | Adds a template to the template state.
 addTemplate :: Monad m =>
                ByteString
-            -> InternalTemplate
+            -> Template
             -> TemplateState m
             -> TemplateState m
-addTemplate n t st = insertTemplate (splitTemplatePath n) t st
+addTemplate n t st = insertTemplate (splitTemplatePath n)
+                                    (InternalTemplate Nothing t) st
 
 
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -391,14 +392,22 @@
 
 
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--- | Binds a list of constant string splices
+-- | Binds a list of constant string splices.
 bindStrings :: Monad m
             => [(ByteString, ByteString)]
             -> TemplateState m
             -> TemplateState m
-bindStrings pairs ts = foldr add ts pairs
-  where
-    add (n,v) = bindSplice n (return [X.Text v])
+bindStrings pairs ts = foldr (uncurry bindString) ts pairs
+
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+-- | Binds a single constant string splice.
+bindString :: Monad m
+            => ByteString
+            -> ByteString
+            -> TemplateState m
+            -> TemplateState m
+bindString n v = bindSplice n $ return [X.Text v]
 
 
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/src/Text/Templating/Heist/TemplateDirectory.hs b/src/Text/Templating/Heist/TemplateDirectory.hs
--- a/src/Text/Templating/Heist/TemplateDirectory.hs
+++ b/src/Text/Templating/Heist/TemplateDirectory.hs
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@
 import           Control.Concurrent
 import           Control.Monad
 import           Control.Monad.Trans
-import           Data.ByteString.Char8 (ByteString)
 import           Text.Templating.Heist
 import           Text.Templating.Heist.Splices.Static
 
diff --git a/test/heist-testsuite.cabal b/test/heist-testsuite.cabal
--- a/test/heist-testsuite.cabal
+++ b/test/heist-testsuite.cabal
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
      directory-tree,
      process,
      filepath,
-     hexpat >= 0.11,
+     hexpat >= 0.18.2 && <0.19,
      HUnit >= 1.2 && < 2,
      monads-fd,
      random,
diff --git a/test/suite/Text/Templating/Heist/Tests.hs b/test/suite/Text/Templating/Heist/Tests.hs
--- a/test/suite/Text/Templating/Heist/Tests.hs
+++ b/test/suite/Text/Templating/Heist/Tests.hs
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@
 addTest = do
   H.assertBool "lookup test" $ Just [] == (fmap (_itNodes . fst) $ lookupTemplate "aoeu" ts)
   H.assertBool "splice touched" $ Map.size (_spliceMap ts) == 0
-  where ts = addTemplate "aoeu" (InternalTemplate Nothing []) (mempty::TemplateState IO)
+  where ts = addTemplate "aoeu" [] (mempty::TemplateState IO)
 
 isLeft :: Either a b -> Bool
 isLeft (Left _) = True