diff --git a/boot.php b/boot.php
index 782b2e798d..57d265711d 100644
--- a/boot.php
+++ b/boot.php
@@ -655,12 +655,13 @@ class App {
 
 
 		$this->scheme = 'http';
-		if ((x($_SERVER,'HTTPS') && $_SERVER['HTTPS']) ||
+		/// @TODO x() should be better used here ...
+		if ((x($_SERVER, 'HTTPS') && $_SERVER['HTTPS']) ||
 		   (x($_SERVER['HTTP_FORWARDED']) && preg_match("/proto=https/", $_SERVER['HTTP_FORWARDED'])) ||
 		   (x($_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_PROTO']) && $_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_PROTO'] == 'https') ||
 		   (x($_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_SSL']) && $_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_SSL'] == 'on') ||
 		   (x($_SERVER['FRONT_END_HTTPS']) && $_SERVER['FRONT_END_HTTPS'] == 'on') ||
-		   (x($_SERVER,'SERVER_PORT') && (intval($_SERVER['SERVER_PORT']) == 443)) // XXX: reasonable assumption, but isn't this hardcoding too much?
+		   (x($_SERVER, 'SERVER_PORT') && (intval($_SERVER['SERVER_PORT']) == 443)) // XXX: reasonable assumption, but isn't this hardcoding too much?
 		   ) {
 			$this->scheme = 'https';
 		}
@@ -692,22 +693,26 @@ class App {
 			$_SERVER["argc"] --;
 		}
 
-		if ((x($_SERVER,'QUERY_STRING')) && substr($_SERVER['QUERY_STRING'],0,9) === "pagename=") {
+		if ((x($_SERVER, 'QUERY_STRING')) && substr($_SERVER['QUERY_STRING'], 0, 9) === "pagename=") {
 			$this->query_string = substr($_SERVER['QUERY_STRING'],9);
 			// removing trailing / - maybe a nginx problem
-			if (substr($this->query_string, 0, 1) == "/")
+			/// @TODO can be shortened by trim($str, '/') !
+			if (substr($this->query_string, 0, 1) == "/") {
 				$this->query_string = substr($this->query_string, 1);
-		} elseif ((x($_SERVER,'QUERY_STRING')) && substr($_SERVER['QUERY_STRING'],0,2) === "q=") {
+			}
+		} elseif ((x($_SERVER, 'QUERY_STRING')) && substr($_SERVER['QUERY_STRING'], 0, 2) === "q=") {
 			$this->query_string = substr($_SERVER['QUERY_STRING'],2);
 			// removing trailing / - maybe a nginx problem
-			if (substr($this->query_string, 0, 1) == "/")
+			/// @TODO can be shortened by trim($str, '/') !
+			if (substr($this->query_string, 0, 1) == "/") {
 				$this->query_string = substr($this->query_string, 1);
+			}
 		}
 
-		if (x($_GET,'pagename')) {
-			$this->cmd = trim($_GET['pagename'],'/\\');
-		} elseif (x($_GET,'q')) {
-			$this->cmd = trim($_GET['q'],'/\\');
+		if (x($_GET, 'pagename')) {
+			$this->cmd = trim($_GET['pagename'], '/\\');
+		} elseif (x($_GET, 'q')) {
+			$this->cmd = trim($_GET['q'], '/\\');
 		}
 
 
@@ -715,9 +720,8 @@ class App {
 		$this->query_string = str_replace($this->cmd."&",$this->cmd."?", $this->query_string);
 
 		// unix style "homedir"
-
-		if (substr($this->cmd,0,1) === '~') {
-			$this->cmd = 'profile/' . substr($this->cmd,1);
+		if (substr($this->cmd, 0, 1) === '~') {
+			$this->cmd = 'profile/' . substr($this->cmd, 1);
 		}
 
 		// Diaspora style profile url