diff --git a/hatmill.go b/hatmill.go
index 9b4e396..6502b54 100644
--- a/hatmill.go
+++ b/hatmill.go
@@ -36,13 +36,6 @@ type Attrib struct {
 	Value fmt.Stringer
 }
 
-func (a Attrib) ValueString() string {
-	if a.Value == nil {
-		return ""
-	}
-	return html.EscapeString(a.Value.String())
-}
-
 // WriteTo writes a to w as an HTML attribute in the form key="value",  or
 // simply key if value is empty. Special characters in value are replaced with
 // HTML entities. It returns the number of bytes written and any
@@ -52,8 +45,12 @@ func (a Attrib) WriteTo(w io.Writer) (n int64, err error) {
 	if err != nil {
 		return
 	}
-	if a.ValueString() != "" {
-		err = writeStringsTo(w, &n, "='", a.ValueString(), "'")
+	var value string
+	if a.Value != nil {
+		value = html.EscapeString(a.Value.String())
+	}
+	if value != "" {
+		err = writeStringsTo(w, &n, "='", value, "'")
 	}
 	return
 }
diff --git a/hatmill_test.go b/hatmill_test.go
index d394c1f..0931ebe 100644
--- a/hatmill_test.go
+++ b/hatmill_test.go
@@ -70,25 +70,27 @@ func stringNotEmpty(v interface{}) bool {
 
 var nonEmptyAlphaString = gen.AlphaString().SuchThat(stringNotEmpty)
 
-type valueString string
+type stringStringer string
 
-func (s valueString) String() string {
+func (s stringStringer) String() string {
 	return string(s)
 }
 
 func attribGen(value gopter.Gen) gopter.Gen {
-	return gen.Struct(reflect.TypeOf(hatmill.Attrib{}), map[string]gopter.Gen{
-		"Key": nonEmptyAlphaString,
-		"Value": value.Map(func(v string) fmt.Stringer {
-			return valueString(v)
-		}),
-	})
+	return gen.Struct(reflect.TypeOf(hatmill.Attrib{}),
+		map[string]gopter.Gen{
+			"Key": nonEmptyAlphaString,
+			"Value": value.Map(func(s string) fmt.Stringer {
+				return stringStringer(s)
+			}),
+		},
+	)
 }
 
 func TestAttrib(t *testing.T) {
 	properties := gopter.NewProperties(nil)
 
-	properties.Property("WriteTo only writes key when value is empty", prop.ForAll(
+	properties.Property("WriteTo only writes key when value is nil", prop.ForAll(
 		func(key string) bool {
 			attrib := hatmill.Attrib{
 				Key: key,
@@ -98,9 +100,20 @@ func TestAttrib(t *testing.T) {
 		nonEmptyAlphaString,
 	))
 
-	properties.Property("writes key=value with ValueString() when value is not empty", prop.ForAll(
+	properties.Property("WriteTo only writes key when value.String() is empty", prop.ForAll(
+		func(key string) bool {
+			attrib := hatmill.Attrib{
+				Key:   key,
+				Value: stringStringer(""),
+			}
+			return checkWrite(attrib, key)
+		},
+		nonEmptyAlphaString,
+	))
+
+	properties.Property("writes key=value with with escaped value.String() when value is not nil and value.String() is not empty", prop.ForAll(
 		func(attrib hatmill.Attrib) bool {
-			expected := fmt.Sprintf("%s='%s'", attrib.Key, attrib.ValueString())
+			expected := fmt.Sprintf("%s='%s'", attrib.Key, html.EscapeString(attrib.Value.String()))
 			return checkWrite(attrib, expected)
 		},
 		attribGen(dangerousASCII.SuchThat(stringNotEmpty)),