diff --git a/src/webapp/grampsdb/views.py b/src/webapp/grampsdb/views.py
index 962bf72d5..26bd9865c 100644
--- a/src/webapp/grampsdb/views.py
+++ b/src/webapp/grampsdb/views.py
@@ -103,10 +103,10 @@ def context_processor(request):
     context["sitename"] = Config.objects.get(setting="sitename").value
     context["default"] = ""
 
-    search = request.GET.get("search", None) or request.POST.get("search", None)
-    page = request.GET.get("page", None) or request.POST.get("page", None)
-    context["page"] = page
-    context["search"] = search
+    search = request.GET.get("search", "") or request.POST.get("search", "")
+    page = request.GET.get("page", "") or request.POST.get("page", "")
+    context["page"] = page 
+    context["search"] = search 
     context["args"] = build_args(search=search, page=page)
     return context
 
diff --git a/src/webapp/utils.py b/src/webapp/utils.py
index ab0858dcd..236c6eb81 100644
--- a/src/webapp/utils.py
+++ b/src/webapp/utils.py
@@ -232,7 +232,7 @@ def build_args(**kwargs):
     retval = ""
     first = True
     for key in kwargs:
-        if kwargs[key] is not None:
+        if kwargs[key] is not "":
             if first:
                 retval+= "?"
                 first = False
@@ -242,8 +242,8 @@ def build_args(**kwargs):
     return retval
 
 def build_search(request):
-    search = request.GET.get("search", None) or request.POST.get("search", None)
-    page = request.GET.get("page", None) or request.POST.get("page", None)
+    search = request.GET.get("search", "") or request.POST.get("search", "")
+    page = request.GET.get("page", "") or request.POST.get("page", "")
     return build_args(search=search, page=page)
 
 def make_button(text, url, *args):