diff --git a/html.c b/html.c
index e7e6e07..7f81965 100644
--- a/html.c
+++ b/html.c
@@ -124,29 +124,20 @@ void html_vtxtf(const char *format, va_list ap)
 
 void html_txt(const char *txt)
 {
-	const char *t = txt;
-	while (t && *t) {
-		int c = *t;
-		if (c == '<' || c == '>' || c == '&') {
-			html_raw(txt, t - txt);
-			if (c == '>')
-				html("&gt;");
-			else if (c == '<')
-				html("&lt;");
-			else if (c == '&')
-				html("&amp;");
-			txt = t + 1;
-		}
-		t++;
-	}
-	if (t != txt)
-		html(txt);
+	if (txt)
+		html_ntxt(txt, strlen(txt));
 }
 
-void html_ntxt(int len, const char *txt)
+ssize_t html_ntxt(const char *txt, size_t len)
 {
 	const char *t = txt;
-	while (t && *t && len--) {
+	ssize_t slen;
+
+	if (len > SSIZE_MAX)
+		return -1;
+
+	slen = (ssize_t) len;
+	while (t && *t && slen--) {
 		int c = *t;
 		if (c == '<' || c == '>' || c == '&') {
 			html_raw(txt, t - txt);
@@ -162,8 +153,7 @@ void html_ntxt(int len, const char *txt)
 	}
 	if (t != txt)
 		html_raw(txt, t - txt);
-	if (len < 0)
-		html("...");
+	return slen;
 }
 
 void html_attrf(const char *fmt, ...)
diff --git a/html.h b/html.h
index 1b24e55..fa4de77 100644
--- a/html.h
+++ b/html.h
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ __attribute__((format (printf,1,2)))
 extern void html_attrf(const char *format,...);
 
 extern void html_txt(const char *txt);
-extern void html_ntxt(int len, const char *txt);
+extern ssize_t html_ntxt(const char *txt, size_t len);
 extern void html_attr(const char *txt);
 extern void html_url_path(const char *txt);
 extern void html_url_arg(const char *txt);
diff --git a/ui-repolist.c b/ui-repolist.c
index 7272e87..af52f9b 100644
--- a/ui-repolist.c
+++ b/ui-repolist.c
@@ -329,7 +329,8 @@ void cgit_print_repolist(void)
 		repourl = cgit_repourl(ctx.repo->url);
 		html_link_open(repourl, NULL, NULL);
 		free(repourl);
-		html_ntxt(ctx.cfg.max_repodesc_len, ctx.repo->desc);
+		if (html_ntxt(ctx.repo->desc, ctx.cfg.max_repodesc_len) < 0)
+			html("...");
 		html_link_close();
 		html("</td><td>");
 		if (ctx.cfg.enable_index_owner) {