diff --git a/src/dom/configuration.c b/src/dom/configuration.c
index b228f02e8..08af021df 100644
--- a/src/dom/configuration.c
+++ b/src/dom/configuration.c
@@ -304,7 +304,7 @@ struct dom_config_info {
 };
 
 #define DOM_CONFIG(name, flag) \
-	{ INIT_DOM_STRING(name, -1), (flag) }
+	{ STATIC_DOM_STRING(name), (flag) }
 
 static struct dom_config_info dom_config_info[] = {
 	DOM_CONFIG("cdata-sections",		DOM_CONFIG_CDATA_SECTIONS),
diff --git a/src/dom/css/scanner.c b/src/dom/css/scanner.c
index 48054f59f..a0e46e796 100644
--- a/src/dom/css/scanner.c
+++ b/src/dom/css/scanner.c
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ static const struct dom_scan_table_info css_scan_table_info[] = {
 };
 
 #define CSS_STRING_MAP(str, type, family) \
-	{ INIT_DOM_STRING(str, -1), CSS_TOKEN_##type, CSS_TOKEN_##family }
+	{ STATIC_DOM_STRING(str), CSS_TOKEN_##type, CSS_TOKEN_##family }
 
 static const struct dom_scanner_string_mapping css_string_mappings[] = {
 	CSS_STRING_MAP("Hz",		FREQUENCY,	DIMENSION),
diff --git a/src/dom/node.c b/src/dom/node.c
index d0ac956ae..c21cbab9c 100644
--- a/src/dom/node.c
+++ b/src/dom/node.c
@@ -451,11 +451,11 @@ done_dom_node(struct dom_node *node)
 struct dom_string *
 get_dom_node_name(struct dom_node *node)
 {
-	static struct dom_string cdata_section_str = INIT_DOM_STRING("#cdata-section", -1);
-	static struct dom_string comment_str = INIT_DOM_STRING("#comment", -1);
-	static struct dom_string document_str = INIT_DOM_STRING("#document", -1);
-	static struct dom_string document_fragment_str = INIT_DOM_STRING("#document-fragment", -1);
-	static struct dom_string text_str = INIT_DOM_STRING("#text", -1);
+	static struct dom_string cdata_section_str = STATIC_DOM_STRING("#cdata-section");
+	static struct dom_string comment_str = STATIC_DOM_STRING("#comment");
+	static struct dom_string document_str = STATIC_DOM_STRING("#document");
+	static struct dom_string document_fragment_str = STATIC_DOM_STRING("#document-fragment");
+	static struct dom_string text_str = STATIC_DOM_STRING("#text");
 
 	assert(node);
 
@@ -521,18 +521,18 @@ get_dom_node_type_name(enum dom_node_type type)
 {
 	static struct dom_string dom_node_type_names[DOM_NODES] = {
 		INIT_DOM_STRING(NULL, 0),
-		/* DOM_NODE_ELEMENT */			INIT_DOM_STRING("element", -1),
-		/* DOM_NODE_ATTRIBUTE */		INIT_DOM_STRING("attribute", -1),
-		/* DOM_NODE_TEXT */			INIT_DOM_STRING("text", -1),
-		/* DOM_NODE_CDATA_SECTION */		INIT_DOM_STRING("cdata-section", -1),
-		/* DOM_NODE_ENTITY_REFERENCE */		INIT_DOM_STRING("entity-reference", -1),
-		/* DOM_NODE_ENTITY */			INIT_DOM_STRING("entity", -1),
-		/* DOM_NODE_PROCESSING_INSTRUCTION */	INIT_DOM_STRING("proc-instruction", -1),
-		/* DOM_NODE_COMMENT */			INIT_DOM_STRING("comment", -1),
-		/* DOM_NODE_DOCUMENT */			INIT_DOM_STRING("document", -1),
-		/* DOM_NODE_DOCUMENT_TYPE */		INIT_DOM_STRING("document-type", -1),
-		/* DOM_NODE_DOCUMENT_FRAGMENT */	INIT_DOM_STRING("document-fragment", -1),
-		/* DOM_NODE_NOTATION */			INIT_DOM_STRING("notation", -1),
+		/* DOM_NODE_ELEMENT */			STATIC_DOM_STRING("element"),
+		/* DOM_NODE_ATTRIBUTE */		STATIC_DOM_STRING("attribute"),
+		/* DOM_NODE_TEXT */			STATIC_DOM_STRING("text"),
+		/* DOM_NODE_CDATA_SECTION */		STATIC_DOM_STRING("cdata-section"),
+		/* DOM_NODE_ENTITY_REFERENCE */		STATIC_DOM_STRING("entity-reference"),
+		/* DOM_NODE_ENTITY */			STATIC_DOM_STRING("entity"),
+		/* DOM_NODE_PROCESSING_INSTRUCTION */	STATIC_DOM_STRING("proc-instruction"),
+		/* DOM_NODE_COMMENT */			STATIC_DOM_STRING("comment"),
+		/* DOM_NODE_DOCUMENT */			STATIC_DOM_STRING("document"),
+		/* DOM_NODE_DOCUMENT_TYPE */		STATIC_DOM_STRING("document-type"),
+		/* DOM_NODE_DOCUMENT_FRAGMENT */	STATIC_DOM_STRING("document-fragment"),
+		/* DOM_NODE_NOTATION */			STATIC_DOM_STRING("notation"),
 	};
 
 	assert(type < DOM_NODES);
diff --git a/src/dom/scanner.h b/src/dom/scanner.h
index 54c3096d7..2a7e61b9b 100644
--- a/src/dom/scanner.h
+++ b/src/dom/scanner.h
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ struct dom_scanner_string_mapping {
 };
 
 #define DOM_STRING_MAP(str, type, family) \
-	{ INIT_DOM_STRING(str, -1), (type), (family) }
+	{ STATIC_DOM_STRING(str), (type), (family) }
 
 #define DOM_STRING_MAP_END \
 	{ INIT_DOM_STRING(NULL, 0), 0, 0 }
diff --git a/src/dom/select.c b/src/dom/select.c
index e1e4d548d..af60c4d5e 100644
--- a/src/dom/select.c
+++ b/src/dom/select.c
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ get_dom_select_pseudo(struct dom_scanner_token *token)
 	} pseudo_info[] = {
 
 #define INIT_DOM_SELECT_PSEUDO_STRING(str, type) \
-	{ INIT_DOM_STRING(str, -1), DOM_SELECT_PSEUDO_##type }
+	{ STATIC_DOM_STRING(str), DOM_SELECT_PSEUDO_##type }
 
 	INIT_DOM_SELECT_PSEUDO_STRING("first-line",	FIRST_LINE),
 	INIT_DOM_SELECT_PSEUDO_STRING("first-letter",	FIRST_LETTER),
diff --git a/src/dom/sgml/scanner.c b/src/dom/sgml/scanner.c
index e2e7c5db5..70a363dd7 100644
--- a/src/dom/sgml/scanner.c
+++ b/src/dom/sgml/scanner.c
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ static struct dom_scan_table_info sgml_scan_table_info[] = {
 };
 
 #define SGML_STRING_MAP(str, type, family) \
-	{ INIT_DOM_STRING(str, -1), SGML_TOKEN_##type, SGML_TOKEN_##family }
+	{ STATIC_DOM_STRING(str), SGML_TOKEN_##type, SGML_TOKEN_##family }
 
 static struct dom_scanner_string_mapping sgml_string_mappings[] = {
 	SGML_STRING_MAP("--",		  NOTATION_COMMENT,	  NOTATION),
diff --git a/src/dom/sgml/sgml.h b/src/dom/sgml/sgml.h
index 34e941e61..ffac94158 100644
--- a/src/dom/sgml/sgml.h
+++ b/src/dom/sgml/sgml.h
@@ -55,10 +55,10 @@ struct sgml_node_info {
 	{ INIT_DOM_STRING(NULL, doctype##_##nodetype##S - 1), doctype##_##nodetype##_UNKNOWN }
 
 #define SGML_NODE_INFO(doctype, nodetype, name, data) \
-	{ INIT_DOM_STRING(#name, sizeof(#name) - 1), doctype##_##nodetype##_##name, data }
+	{ STATIC_DOM_STRING(#name), doctype##_##nodetype##_##name, data }
 
 #define SGML_NODE_INF2(doctype, nodetype, name, ident, data) \
-	{ INIT_DOM_STRING(ident, sizeof(ident) - 1), doctype##_##nodetype##_##name, data }
+	{ STATIC_DOM_STRING(ident), doctype##_##nodetype##_##name, data }
 
 #define SGML_NODE_INFO_TYPE(doctype, nodetype, name) doctype##_##nodetype##_##name
 
diff --git a/src/dom/string.h b/src/dom/string.h
index 15a15cfde..4e04e9d86 100644
--- a/src/dom/string.h
+++ b/src/dom/string.h
@@ -3,13 +3,22 @@
 
 #include "util/memory.h"
 
+/* For now DOM has it's own little string library. Mostly because there are
+ * some memory overhead associated with util/string's block-based allocation
+ * scheme which is optimized for building strings and quickly dispose of it.
+ * Also, at some point we need to switch to use mainly UTF-8 strings for DOM
+ * and it needs to be possible to adapt the string library to that. --jonas */
+
 struct dom_string {
 	size_t length;
 	unsigned char *string;
 };
 
 #define INIT_DOM_STRING(strvalue, strlength) \
-	{ (strlength) == -1 ? sizeof(strvalue) - 1 : (strlength), (strvalue) }
+	{ (strlength), (strvalue) }
+
+#define STATIC_DOM_STRING(strvalue) \
+	{ sizeof(strvalue) - 1, (strvalue) }
 
 static inline void
 set_dom_string(struct dom_string *string, unsigned char *value, size_t length)
diff --git a/src/dom/test/dom-select.c b/src/dom/test/dom-select.c
index 2121b43f5..e4cc6f238 100644
--- a/src/dom/test/dom-select.c
+++ b/src/dom/test/dom-select.c
@@ -38,9 +38,9 @@ main(int argc, char *argv[])
 	struct sgml_parser *parser;
 	struct dom_select *select;
 	enum sgml_document_type doctype = SGML_DOCTYPE_HTML;
-	struct dom_string uri = INIT_DOM_STRING("dom://test", -1);
-	struct dom_string source = INIT_DOM_STRING("(no source)", -1);
-	struct dom_string selector = INIT_DOM_STRING("(no select)", -1);
+	struct dom_string uri = STATIC_DOM_STRING("dom://test");
+	struct dom_string source = STATIC_DOM_STRING("(no source)");
+	struct dom_string selector = STATIC_DOM_STRING("(no select)");
 	int i;
 
 	for (i = 1; i < argc; i++) {
diff --git a/src/dom/test/sgml-parser.c b/src/dom/test/sgml-parser.c
index 320758a6b..9ac6817a6 100644
--- a/src/dom/test/sgml-parser.c
+++ b/src/dom/test/sgml-parser.c
@@ -267,8 +267,8 @@ main(int argc, char *argv[])
 	int normalize = 0;
 	int complete = 1;
 	size_t read_stdin = 0;
-	struct dom_string uri = INIT_DOM_STRING("dom://test", -1);
-	struct dom_string source = INIT_DOM_STRING("(no source)", -1);
+	struct dom_string uri = STATIC_DOM_STRING("dom://test");
+	struct dom_string source = STATIC_DOM_STRING("(no source)");
 	int i;
 
 	for (i = 1; i < argc; i++) {