diff --git a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/controller/freemarker/FreemarkerConfigurationLoader.java b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/controller/freemarker/FreemarkerConfigurationLoader.java
index b2a6661f3..6d4d89fa3 100644
--- a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/controller/freemarker/FreemarkerConfigurationLoader.java
+++ b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/controller/freemarker/FreemarkerConfigurationLoader.java
@@ -54,18 +54,24 @@ public class FreemarkerConfigurationLoader {
         }
     }
     
-    public Configuration getConfig(VitroRequest vreq) {       
+    public Configuration getConfig(VitroRequest vreq) { 
         String themeDir = getThemeDir(vreq.getAppBean());
         return getConfigForTheme(themeDir);
     }
 
     protected String getThemeDir(ApplicationBean appBean) {
+        String themeDir = null;
     	if (appBean == null) {
     		log.error("Cannot get themeDir from null application bean");
-    	} else if (appBean.getThemeDir() == null) {
-    		log.error("themeDir is null");
-    	}
-        return appBean.getThemeDir().replaceAll("/$", "");
+    		return null;
+    	} else {
+    	    themeDir = appBean.getThemeDir();
+    	    if (themeDir == null) {
+    	        log.error("themeDir is null");
+    	        return null;
+    	    }
+    	} 
+        return themeDir.replaceAll("/$", "");
     }
 
     
diff --git a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/controller/freemarker/FreemarkerHttpServlet.java b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/controller/freemarker/FreemarkerHttpServlet.java
index 8792a0225..75ecf003b 100644
--- a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/controller/freemarker/FreemarkerHttpServlet.java
+++ b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/controller/freemarker/FreemarkerHttpServlet.java
@@ -119,8 +119,7 @@ public class FreemarkerHttpServlet extends VitroHttpServlet {
      * the subclass method. For the same reason, it can't refer to a static or instance field
      * REQUIRED_ACTIONS which is overridden in the subclass.
      */
-    @SuppressWarnings("unused")
-	protected Actions requiredActions(VitroRequest vreq) {
+    protected Actions requiredActions(VitroRequest vreq) {
         return Actions.AUTHORIZED;
     }
     
diff --git a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/utils/ThemeUtils.java b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/utils/ThemeUtils.java
index 0fa3038c3..9675cf7fe 100644
--- a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/utils/ThemeUtils.java
+++ b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/utils/ThemeUtils.java
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ public class ThemeUtils {
         }
         
         // File.list() does not guarantee a specific order, so sort alphabetically
-        if (doSort == true) {
+        if (doSort) {
         	Collections.sort(themeNames);
         }