diff --git a/__init__.py b/__init__.py
index 11b42d6..c35d81c 100644
--- a/__init__.py
+++ b/__init__.py
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ def create_app():
     app = Flask(
             __name__,
             instance_relative_config=True,
-            static_folder=f"templates/{templatehelper.config['template']}/static")
+            static_folder=f"templates/{templatehelper.CONFIG['template']}/static")
     # paths sent by flask are relative to the "public" directory. This prefix should be added to
     # get paths relative to the pages root directory.
     pathprefix = ''
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ def serve_directory(path):
             # Ensure paths always end with a "/"
             return flask.redirect('/' + path + '/')
         return flask.render_template(
-                os.path.join(templatehelper.config['template'], 'directory.html'),
+                os.path.join(templatehelper.CONFIG['template'], 'directory.html'),
                 pathprefix = pathprefix,
                 path = path,
                 templatehelper = templatehelper)
@@ -73,14 +73,14 @@ def serve_error(code, message=None):
                 os.path.join(
                         __name__,
                         'templates',
-                        templatehelper.config['template'],
+                        templatehelper.CONFIG['template'],
                         f'{code}.html')):
             template = f'{code}.html'
         else:
             template = 'error.html'
         return flask.make_response((
                 flask.render_template(
-                        os.path.join(templatehelper.config['template'], template),
+                        os.path.join(templatehelper.CONFIG['template'], template),
                         code=code,
                         message=message,
                         templatehelper=templatehelper,
diff --git a/templatehelper.py b/templatehelper.py
index b1e06ef..4d2a8a7 100644
--- a/templatehelper.py
+++ b/templatehelper.py
@@ -19,15 +19,15 @@
 import regex
 import yaml
 
-config = None
-with open("../config.yaml") as file:
-    config = yaml.load(file, Loader=yaml.SafeLoader)
+CONFIG = None
+with open("../config.yaml", encoding='utf-8') as file:
+    CONFIG = yaml.load(file, Loader=yaml.SafeLoader)
 
 
 # paths sent by flask are relative to the "public" directory. This prefix should be added to get
 # paths relative to the pages root directory.
 #TODO: This is a redundant specification and should be avoided.
-pathprefix = ''
+PATHPREFIX = ''
 
 # List of official MIME Types: http://www.iana.org/assignments/media-types/media-types.xhtml
 # If you want additional mimetypes to be covered, add them to this list.
@@ -71,12 +71,12 @@ def listdir(path):
     page and thus it will be ommited from the list as well.
     """
     ignorelist = ['index', 'index.md', '*.scmsfasicon', '*.scmstarget']
-    if os.path.exists(os.path.join(pathprefix, path, '.scmsignore')):
-        with open(os.path.join(pathprefix, path, '.scmsignore')) as file:
+    if os.path.exists(os.path.join(PATHPREFIX, path, '.scmsignore')):
+        with open(os.path.join(PATHPREFIX, path, '.scmsignore'), encoding='utf-8') as file:
             ignorelist.extend([line.strip('\n') for line in file.readlines()])
     dirlist = [
             os.path.basename(f)
-            for f in os.listdir(os.path.join(pathprefix, path))
+            for f in os.listdir(os.path.join(PATHPREFIX, path))
             if regex.match('^(?!\\.).*(?<!~)$', f) and not f in ignorelist
         ]
     removeitems = []
@@ -102,16 +102,16 @@ def listchildren(path):
     page and thus it will be ommited from the list as well.
     """
     ignorelist = ['index', 'index.md', '*.scmsfasicon', '*.scmstarget']
-    if os.path.exists(os.path.join(pathprefix, path, '.scmsignore')):
-        with open(os.path.join(pathprefix, path, '.scmsignore')) as file:
+    if os.path.exists(os.path.join(PATHPREFIX, path, '.scmsignore')):
+        with open(os.path.join(PATHPREFIX, path, '.scmsignore'), encoding='utf-8') as file:
             ignorelist.extend([line.strip('\n') for line in file.readlines()])
     dirlist = [
             [os.path.basename(f), os.path.basename(f)]
-            for f in os.listdir(os.path.join(pathprefix, path))
+            for f in os.listdir(os.path.join(PATHPREFIX, path))
             if regex.match('^(?!\\.).*(?<!~)$', f) and not f in ignorelist
         ]
-    if os.path.exists(os.path.join(pathprefix, path, '.scmslinks')):
-        with open(os.path.join(pathprefix, path, '.scmslinks')) as file:
+    if os.path.exists(os.path.join(PATHPREFIX, path, '.scmslinks')):
+        with open(os.path.join(PATHPREFIX, path, '.scmslinks'), 'utf-8') as file:
             additional_links = json.load(file)
         dirlist.extend(additional_links)
     removeitems = []
@@ -154,8 +154,8 @@ def getfasicon(path):
     Check if a file named basename(path) + '.scmfasicon' exists, and return it's content.
     If not, handover to getfastype(path)
     """
-    if os.path.isfile(os.path.join(pathprefix, path) + '.scmsfasicon'):
-        return readfile(os.path.join(pathprefix, path) + '.scmsfasicon')
+    if os.path.isfile(os.path.join(PATHPREFIX, path) + '.scmsfasicon'):
+        return readfile(os.path.join(PATHPREFIX, path) + '.scmsfasicon')
     else:
         return getfastype(path)
 
@@ -167,11 +167,11 @@ def getfastype(path):
     (the part of the mime-type before the slash).
     If this fails as well, fallback to a default.
     """
-    if os.path.isdir(os.path.join(pathprefix, path)):
+    if os.path.isdir(os.path.join(PATHPREFIX, path)):
         return "fa-folder"
 
     mimetype = mimetypes.guess_type(path)[0]
-    if not mimetype == None:
+    if not mimetype is None:
         if mimetype in mimetype_fas_mapping:
             return mimetype_fas_mapping[mimetype]
         if mimetype.split('/')[0] in mimetype_fas_mapping:
@@ -180,7 +180,7 @@ def getfastype(path):
 
 def getlastmodifiedfile(path):
     path = os.path.join('..', path)
-    assert(os.path.isdir(path))
+    assert os.path.isdir(path)
     newest = {"file": path, "timestamp": os.path.getmtime(path)}
     for root, dirs, files in os.walk(path):
         for path in dirs: