diff --git a/index.php b/index.php
index 4b21bc0..0077caf 100644
--- a/index.php
+++ b/index.php
@@ -33,12 +33,12 @@ error_reporting(E_ALL | E_STRICT);
 $debugOutput = '';
 
 if (isset($_POST['code'])) {
-    $code = $_POST['code'];
-
     if (get_magic_quotes_gpc()) {
         $code = stripslashes($code);
     }
 
+    $code = trim(preg_replace('{^\s*<\?(php)?}i', '', $_POST['code']));
+
     // if there's only one line wrap it into a krumo() call
     if (preg_match('#^(?!var_dump|echo|print|< )([^\r\n]+?);?\s*$#is', $code, $m) && trim($m[1])) {
         $code = 'krumo('.$m[1].');';
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ if (isset($_POST['code'])) {
         <div class="output"><?php echo $debugOutput ?></div>
         <form method="POST" action="">
             <div class="input">
-                <textarea class="editor" id="editor" name="code"><?php echo (isset($_POST['code']) ? htmlentities($_POST['code'], ENT_QUOTES, 'UTF-8') : null) ?></textarea>
+                <textarea class="editor" id="editor" name="code"><?php echo (isset($_POST['code']) ? htmlentities($_POST['code'], ENT_QUOTES, 'UTF-8') : "&lt;?php\n\n") ?></textarea>
                 <div class="statusbar">
                     <span class="position">Line: 1, Column: 1</span>
                     <span class="copy">
diff --git a/php-console.js b/php-console.js
index 11f4c79..81d03b8 100644
--- a/php-console.js
+++ b/php-console.js
@@ -80,9 +80,8 @@
         var PhpMode, code;
 
         code = $('#' + options.editor).text();
-        $('#' + options.editor)
-            .replaceWith('<div id="'+options.editor+'" class="'+options.editor+'"></div>')
-            .text(code);
+        $('#' + options.editor).replaceWith('<div id="'+options.editor+'" class="'+options.editor+'"></div>');
+        $('#' + options.editor).text(code);
 
         editor = ace.edit(options.editor);