diff --git a/classes/Design.php b/classes/Design.php
index 50712ce8b5..a8fdb72191 100644
--- a/classes/Design.php
+++ b/classes/Design.php
@@ -146,7 +146,12 @@ class Design extends Memcached_DataObject
             if (empty($sslserver)) {
                 // XXX: this assumes that background dir == site dir + /background/
                 // not true if there's another server
-                $server = common_config('site', 'server');
+                if (is_string(common_config('site', 'sslserver')) &&
+                    mb_strlen(common_config('site', 'sslserver')) > 0) {
+                    $server = common_config('site', 'sslserver');
+                } else if (common_config('site', 'server')) {
+                    $server = common_config('site', 'server');
+                }
                 $path   = common_config('site', 'path') . '/background/';
             } else {
                 $server = $sslserver;
diff --git a/lib/htmloutputter.php b/lib/htmloutputter.php
index f01f1814f0..4a1b7db472 100644
--- a/lib/htmloutputter.php
+++ b/lib/htmloutputter.php
@@ -371,7 +371,12 @@ class HTMLOutputter extends XMLOutputter
                         $sslserver = common_config('javascript', 'sslserver');
 
                         if (empty($sslserver)) {
-                            $server = common_config('site', 'server');
+                            if (is_string(common_config('site', 'sslserver')) &&
+                                mb_strlen(common_config('site', 'sslserver')) > 0) {
+                                $server = common_config('site', 'sslserver');
+                            } else if (common_config('site', 'server')) {
+                                $server = common_config('site', 'server');
+                            }
                             $path   = common_config('site', 'path') . '/js/';
                         } else {
                             $server = $sslserver;
diff --git a/lib/theme.php b/lib/theme.php
index 669d9a19fd..95b7c1de4b 100644
--- a/lib/theme.php
+++ b/lib/theme.php
@@ -121,7 +121,12 @@ class Theme
             $sslserver = common_config($group, 'sslserver');
 
             if (empty($sslserver)) {
-                $server = common_config('site', 'server');
+                if (is_string(common_config('site', 'sslserver')) &&
+                    mb_strlen(common_config('site', 'sslserver')) > 0) {
+                    $server = common_config('site', 'sslserver');
+                } else if (common_config('site', 'server')) {
+                    $server = common_config('site', 'server');
+                }
                 $path   = common_config('site', 'path') . '/';
                 if ($fallbackSubdir) {
                     $path .= $fallbackSubdir . '/';