diff --git a/linkcheck/HtmlParser/htmllib.py b/linkcheck/HtmlParser/htmllib.py
index 0a8980e3..2a1dfc2b 100644
--- a/linkcheck/HtmlParser/htmllib.py
+++ b/linkcheck/HtmlParser/htmllib.py
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ class HtmlPrettyPrinter (object):
         @type attrs: dict
         @return: None
         """
-        self._start_element(tag, attrs, ">")
+        self._start_element(tag, attrs, u">")
 
     def start_end_element (self, tag, attrs, element_text=None):
         """
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ class HtmlPrettyPrinter (object):
         @type attrs: dict
         @return: None
         """
-        self._start_element(tag, attrs, "/>")
+        self._start_element(tag, attrs, u"/>")
 
     def _start_element (self, tag, attrs, end):
         """
@@ -125,12 +125,12 @@ class HtmlPrettyPrinter (object):
         @type end: string
         @return: None
         """
-        self.fd.write("<%s" % tag.replace("/", ""))
+        self.fd.write(u"<%s" % tag.replace("/", ""))
         for key, val in attrs.items():
             if val is None:
-                self.fd.write(" %s" % key)
+                self.fd.write(u" %s" % key)
             else:
-                self.fd.write(' %s="%s"' % (key, quote_attrval(val)))
+                self.fd.write(u' %s="%s"' % (key, quote_attrval(val)))
         self.fd.write(end)
 
     def end_element (self, tag):
diff --git a/tests/test_parser.py b/tests/test_parser.py
index 4465c19b..054d73e5 100644
--- a/tests/test_parser.py
+++ b/tests/test_parser.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# -*- coding: iso-8859-1 -*-
+# -*- coding: utf8 -*-
 # Copyright (C) 2004-2012 Bastian Kleineidam
 #
 # This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
@@ -54,9 +54,9 @@ parsetests = [
     ("""< a >""", """< a >"""),
     ("""<>""", """<>"""),
     ("""< >""", """< >"""),
-    ("""<aä>""", u"""<aä></aä>"""),
-    ("""<a aä="b">""", u"""<a aä="b"></a>"""),
-    ("""<a a="bä">""", u"""<a a="b&#228;"></a>"""),
+    ("""<aä>""", u"""<aä></aä>"""),
+    ("""<a aä="b">""", u"""<a aä="b"></a>"""),
+    ("""<a a="bä">""", u"""<a a="b&#228;"></a>"""),
     # multiple attribute names should be ignored...
     ("""<a b="c" b="c" >""", """<a b="c"></a>"""),
     # ... but which one wins - in our implementation the last one
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ parsetests = [
     ("""</a >""", """"""),
     ("""< / a>""", """< / a>"""),
     ("""< /a>""", """< /a>"""),
-    ("""</aä>""", """"""),
+    ("""</aä>""", """"""),
     # start and end tag (HTML doctype assumed)
     ("""<a/>""", """<a></a>"""),
     ("""<meta/>""", """<meta/>"""),
@@ -144,8 +144,8 @@ parsetests = [
     # note that \u8156 is not valid encoding and therefore gets removed
     ("""<a  href="&#8156;ailto:" >""", """<a href="&#8156;ailto:"></a>"""),
     # non-ascii characters
-    ("""<Üzgür> fahr </langsamer> ¿¿¿¿¿¿{""",
-     u"""<Üzgür> fahr  ¿¿¿¿¿¿{"""),
+    ("""<Üzgür> fahr </langsamer> żżżżżż{""",
+     u"""<Üzgür> fahr  żżżżżż{"""),
     # mailto link
     ("""<a  href=mailto:calvin@LocalHost?subject=Hallo&to=michi>1</a>""",
      """<a href="mailto:calvin@LocalHost?subject=Hallo&amp;to=michi">1</a>"""),