diff --git a/src/Framework/Util/Util.php b/src/Framework/Util/Util.php
index 328e7d2..54af536 100644
--- a/src/Framework/Util/Util.php
+++ b/src/Framework/Util/Util.php
@@ -1,20 +1,30 @@
 <?php
 class Util {
-    public static function escape_and_linkify(string $text, int $flags = ENT_NOQUOTES | ENT_HTML5, bool $new_window = true ): string {
-        // escape dangerous characters, but preserve quotes
-        $safe = htmlspecialchars($text, $flags, 'UTF-8');
+    public static function escape_html(string $text): string {
+        return htmlspecialchars($text, ENT_QUOTES, 'UTF-8');
+    }
 
+    public static function escape_xml(string $text): string {
+        return htmlspecialchars($text, ENT_QUOTES | ENT_XML1, 'UTF-8');
+    }
+
+    // Convert URLs in text to links (anchor tags)
+    // NOTE: This function expects pre-escaped text.
+    //       It will unescape URLs if there are any.
+    public static function linkify(string $text, bool $new_window = true): string {
         $link_attrs = $new_window ? ' target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"' : '';
 
-        // convert URLs to links
-        $safe = preg_replace_callback(
+        return preg_replace_callback(
             '~(https?://[^\s<>"\'()]+)~i',
-            fn($matches) => '<a href="' . htmlspecialchars($matches[1], ENT_QUOTES, 'UTF-8') . '"' . $link_attrs . '>' . $matches[1] . '</a>',
-            $safe
-        );
+            function($matches) use ($link_attrs) {
+                $escaped_url = rtrim($matches[1], '.,!?;:)]}>');
+                $clean_url = html_entity_decode($escaped_url, ENT_QUOTES, 'UTF-8');
 
-        return $safe;
-    }
+                return '<a href="' . $clean_url . '"' . $link_attrs . '>' . $escaped_url . '</a>';
+            },
+            $text
+        );
+    }    
 
     // For relative time display, compare the stored time to the current time
     // and display it as "X seconds/minutes/hours/days etc." ago
diff --git a/src/View/HomeView/HomeView.php b/src/View/HomeView/HomeView.php
index ba29a11..da17826 100644
--- a/src/View/HomeView/HomeView.php
+++ b/src/View/HomeView/HomeView.php
@@ -8,8 +8,8 @@ class HomeView {
             <div class="tick-feed">
             <?php foreach ($ticks as $tick): ?>
                 <article class="tick">
-                    <div class="tick-time"><?= htmlspecialchars(Util::relative_time($tick['timestamp'])) ?></div>
-                    <span class="tick-text"><?= Util::escape_and_linkify($tick['tick']) ?></span>
+                    <div class="tick-time"><?= Util::escape_html(Util::relative_time($tick['timestamp'])) ?></div>
+                    <span class="tick-text"><?= Util::linkify(Util::escape_html($tick['tick'])) ?></span>
                 </article>
             <?php endforeach; ?>
             </div>
diff --git a/templates/feed/atom.php b/templates/feed/atom.php
index 7ed1587..f85dfa6 100644
--- a/templates/feed/atom.php
+++ b/templates/feed/atom.php
@@ -1,45 +1,49 @@
 <?php /** @var ConfigModel $config */ ?>
 <?php /** @var array $ticks */ ?>
 <?php
-$siteTitle = htmlspecialchars($config->siteTitle);
-$siteUrl = htmlspecialchars($config->baseUrl);
-$basePath = htmlspecialchars($config->basePath);
+$feedTitle = Util::escape_xml("$config->siteTitle Atom Feed");
+$siteUrl = Util::escape_xml($config->baseUrl . $config->basePath);
+$feedUrl = Util::escape_xml($config->baseUrl . $config->basePath . 'feed/atom');
 $updated = date(DATE_ATOM, strtotime($ticks[0]['timestamp'] ?? 'now'));
 
 header('Content-Type: application/atom+xml; charset=utf-8');
 echo '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>' . "\n";
 ?>
 <feed xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">
-  <title><?= "$siteTitle Atom Feed" ?></title>
+  <title><?php echo $feedTitle ?></title>
   <link rel="self"
         type="application/atom+xml"
-        title="<?php echo htmlspecialchars($config->siteTitle) ?> Atom Feed"
-        href="<?php echo htmlspecialchars($siteUrl . $basePath) ?>feed/atom" />
-  <link rel="alternate" href="<?= $siteUrl ?>"/>
-  <updated><?= $updated ?></updated>
-  <id><?= $siteUrl . $basePath ?></id>
+        title="<?php echo $feedTitle ?>"
+        href="<?php echo $feedUrl ?>" />
+  <link rel="alternate" href="<?php echo $siteUrl  ?>"/>
+  <updated><?php echo $updated ?></updated>
+  <id><?php echo $siteUrl ?></id>
   <author>
         <name><?= $siteTitle ?></name>
   </author>
 <?php foreach ($ticks as $tick):
+    // decompose the tick timestamp into the date/time parts
     [$date, $time] = explode(' ', $tick['timestamp']);
-    $dateParts = explode('-', $date);
-    $timeParts = explode(':', $time);
 
+    $dateParts = explode('-', $date);
     [$year, $month, $day] = $dateParts;
+
+    $timeParts = explode(':', $time);
     [$hour, $minute, $second] = $timeParts;
 
-    $tickPath = "$year/$month/$day/$hour/$minute/$second";
-    $tickUrl = htmlspecialchars($siteUrl . $basePath . "tick/$tickPath");
+    // build the tick entry components
+    $tickPath = "tick/$year/$month/$day/$hour/$minute/$second";
+    $tickUrl = Util::escape_xml($siteUrl . $basePath . $tickPath);
     $tickTime = date(DATE_ATOM, strtotime($tick['timestamp']));
-    $tickText = htmlspecialchars($tick['tick']);
+    $tickTitle = Util::escape_xml($tick['tick']);
+    $tickContent = Util::linkify($tickTitle);
 ?>
   <entry>
-    <title><?= $tickText ?></title>
+    <title><?= $tickTitle ?></title>
     <link href="<?= $tickUrl ?>"/>
     <id><?= $tickUrl ?></id>
     <updated><?= $tickTime ?></updated>
-    <content type="html"><?= $tickText ?></content>
+    <content type="html"><?= $tickContent ?></content>
   </entry>
 <?php endforeach; ?>
 </feed>
diff --git a/templates/feed/rss.php b/templates/feed/rss.php
index d5484e2..294516d 100644
--- a/templates/feed/rss.php
+++ b/templates/feed/rss.php
@@ -4,34 +4,43 @@
 // Need to have a little php here because the starting xml tag
 // will mess up the PHP parser.
 // TODO - I think short php tags can be disabled to prevent that.
+
 header('Content-Type: application/rss+xml; charset=utf-8');
 echo '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>' . "\n";
 ?>
 <rss version="2.0" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">
 <channel>
-    <title><?php echo htmlspecialchars($config->siteTitle, ENT_XML1, 'UTF-8') ?> RSS Feed</title>
-    <link><?php echo htmlspecialchars($config->baseUrl . $config->basePath, ENT_XML1, 'UTF-8')?></link>
-    <atom:link href="<?php echo htmlspecialchars($config->baseUrl . $config->basePath, ENT_XML1, 'UTF-8')?>feed/rss" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
-    <description><?php echo htmlspecialchars($config->siteDescription, ENT_XML1, 'UTF-8') ?></description>
+    <title><?php echo Util::escape_xml($config->siteTitle . 'RSS Feed') ?></title>
+    <link><?php echo Util::escape_xml($config->baseUrl . $config->basePath)?></link>
+    <atom:link href="<?php echo Util::escape_xml($config->baseUrl . $config->basePath. 'feed/rss')?>" 
+               rel="self"
+               type="application/rss+xml" />
+    <description><?php echo Util::escape_xml($config->siteDescription) ?></description>
     <language>en-us</language>
     <lastBuildDate><?php echo date(DATE_RSS); ?></lastBuildDate>
 <?php foreach ($ticks as $tick):
+    // decompose the tick timestamp into the date/time parts
     [$date, $time] = explode(' ', $tick['timestamp']);
-    $dateParts = explode('-', $date);
-    $timeParts = explode(':', $time);
 
+    $dateParts = explode('-', $date);
     [$year, $month, $day] = $dateParts;
+
+    $timeParts = explode(':', $time);
     [$hour, $minute, $second] = $timeParts;
 
-    $tickPath = "$year/$month/$day/$hour/$minute/$second";
-    $tickUrl = $config->baseUrl . $config->basePath . $tickPath;
+    // build the tick entry components
+    $tickPath = "tick/$year/$month/$day/$hour/$minute/$second";
+    $tickUrl = Util::escape_xml($config->baseUrl . $config->basePath . $tickPath);
+    $tickDate = date(DATE_RSS, strtotime($tick['timestamp']));
+    $tickTitle = Util::escape_xml($tick['tick']);
+    $tickDescription = Util::linkify($tickTitle);
 ?>
     <item>
-        <title><?php echo htmlspecialchars($tick['tick'], ENT_XML1, 'UTF-8'); ?></title>
-        <link><?php echo htmlspecialchars($config->baseUrl . $config->basePath . "tick/$tickPath", ENT_XML1, 'UTF-8'); ?></link>
-        <description><?php echo Util::escape_and_linkify($tick['tick'], ENT_XML1, false); ?></description>
-        <pubDate><?php echo date(DATE_RSS, strtotime($tick['timestamp'])); ?></pubDate>
-        <guid><?php echo htmlspecialchars($tickUrl, ENT_XML1, 'UTF-8'); ?></guid>
+        <title><?php echo $tickTitle ?></title>
+        <link><?php echo $tickUrl; ?></link>
+        <description><?php echo $tickDescription; ?></description>
+        <pubDate><?php echo $tickDate; ?></pubDate>
+        <guid><?php echo $tickUrl; ?></guid>
     </item>
 <?php endforeach; ?>
 </channel>
diff --git a/templates/partials/home.php b/templates/partials/home.php
index 4c10bd8..64c674d 100644
--- a/templates/partials/home.php
+++ b/templates/partials/home.php
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
                 <p>About: <?= $user->about ?></p>
 <?php endif ?>
 <?php if (!empty($user->website)): ?>
-                <p>Website: <?= Util::escape_and_linkify($user->website) ?></p>
+                <p>Website: <?= Util::linkify(Util::escape_html($user->website)) ?></p>
 <?php endif ?>
 <?php if (!empty($user->mood) || Session::isLoggedIn()): ?>
                 <div class="profile-row">
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@
                 <hr/>
                 <div class="profile-row">
                     <form class="tick-form" method="post">
-                        <input type="hidden" name="csrf_token" value="<?= htmlspecialchars($_SESSION['csrf_token']) ?>">
+                        <input type="hidden" name="csrf_token" value="<?= Util::escape_html($_SESSION['csrf_token']) ?>">
                         <textarea name="tick" placeholder="What's ticking?" rows="3"></textarea>
                         <button type="submit" class="submit-btn">Tick</button>
                     </form>
diff --git a/templates/partials/tick.php b/templates/partials/tick.php
index 8ec7d21..97fccb0 100644
--- a/templates/partials/tick.php
+++ b/templates/partials/tick.php
@@ -2,4 +2,4 @@
 <?php /** @var Date $tickTime */ ?>
 <?php /** @var string $tick */ ?>
         <h1>Tick from <?= $tickTime->format('Y-m-d H:i:s'); ?></h1>
-        <p><?= Util::escape_and_linkify($tick) ?></p>
+        <p><?= Util::linkify(Util::escape_html($tick)) ?></p>