diff --git a/themes/xtemplate/xtemplate.theme b/themes/xtemplate/xtemplate.theme
index cde00817faa48330428c0d660c2ee6930154a657..73b3c167add3f203ebc99b18feb2368f03a11103 100644
--- a/themes/xtemplate/xtemplate.theme
+++ b/themes/xtemplate/xtemplate.theme
@@ -2,10 +2,6 @@
 
 class Theme_xtemplate extends BaseTheme {
 
-  var $primary_links = "edit me";
-  var $secondary_links = "edit me";
-  var $message = "edit me";
-
   function system($field) {
     $system["name"] = "xtemplate";
     $system["description"] = "a template driven theme";
@@ -70,12 +66,10 @@ function header($title = "") {
     $this->template->assign(array(
       "title" => ($title ? $title." | ". variable_get("site_name", "drupal") : variable_get("site_name", "drupal") ." | ". variable_get("site_slogan", "")),
       "head" => theme_head(),
-      "primary" => $this->primary_links,
-      "secondary" => $this->secondary_links
+      "links" => $this->links(link_page())
     ));
 
     if (!arg(0)) {
-      $this->template->assign("message", $this->message);
       $this->template->parse("header.message");
     }
 
diff --git a/themes/xtemplate/xtemplate.xtmpl b/themes/xtemplate/xtemplate.xtmpl
index be2869fd83c2710b309424f68a6cbd90714d1f93..4c795cd56206dbd66b781cd66e7531977c0559df 100644
--- a/themes/xtemplate/xtemplate.xtmpl
+++ b/themes/xtemplate/xtemplate.xtmpl
@@ -18,8 +18,8 @@
   <tr>
     <td colspan="2" class="menu">
       <span id="links">
-        <div id="secondary">{secondary}</div>
-        <div id="primary">{primary}</div>
+        <div id="secondary">secondary links</div>
+        <div id="primary">primary links<br />{links}</div>
       </span>
       <span id="logo"><a href="index.php"><img src="themes/xtemplate/images/druplicon.gif" alt="" /></a></span>
     </td>
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@
   <tr>
     <td valign="top" width="100%">
       <!-- BEGIN: message -->
-        <div id="message">{message}</div>
+        <div id="message">Site description or mission statement - edit this text along with the primary and secondary links in the file 'themes/xtemplate/xtemplate.xtmpl'.</div>
       <!-- END: message -->
       <div id="main">
 <!-- END: header -->