diff --git a/isso/__init__.py b/isso/__init__.py
index b83975e..7890118 100644
--- a/isso/__init__.py
+++ b/isso/__init__.py
@@ -85,7 +85,10 @@ class Isso(object):
         self.conf = conf
         self.db = db.SQLite3(conf.get('general', 'dbpath'), conf)
         self.signer = URLSafeTimedSerializer(self.db.preferences.get("session-key"))
-        self.markup = html.Markup(conf.section('markup'))
+        self.markup = html.Markup(
+            conf.getlist("markup", "options"),
+            conf.getlist("markup", "allowed-elements"),
+            conf.getlist("markup", "allowed-attributes"))
         self.hasher = hash.new(
             conf.get("hash", "algorithm"),
             conf.get("hash", "salt"))
diff --git a/isso/tests/test_html.py b/isso/tests/test_html.py
index 541712b..e60916e 100644
--- a/isso/tests/test_html.py
+++ b/isso/tests/test_html.py
@@ -5,8 +5,6 @@ try:
 except ImportError:
     import unittest
 
-
-from isso import config
 from isso.utils import html
 
 
@@ -55,13 +53,6 @@ class TestHTML(unittest.TestCase):
             self.assertEqual(html.sanitize(sanitizer, input), expected)
 
     def test_render(self):
-        conf = config.new({
-            "markup": {
-                "options": "autolink",
-                "allowed-elements": "",
-                "allowed-attributes": ""
-            }
-        })
-        renderer = html.Markup(conf.section("markup")).render
+        renderer = html.Markup(["autolink", ]).render
         self.assertEqual(renderer("http://example.org/ and sms:+1234567890"),
                          '<p><a href="http://example.org/">http://example.org/</a> and sms:+1234567890</p>')
diff --git a/isso/utils/html.py b/isso/utils/html.py
index 212875d..4d540de 100644
--- a/isso/utils/html.py
+++ b/isso/utils/html.py
@@ -26,10 +26,15 @@ def Sanitizer(elements, attributes):
                             "pre", "code", "blockquote",
                             "del", "ins", "strong", "em",
                             "h1", "h2", "h3", "h4", "h5", "h6",
-                            "table", "thead", "tbody", "th", "td"] + elements
+                            "table", "thead", "tbody", "th", "td"]
 
         # href for <a> and align for <table>
-        allowed_attributes = ["align", "href"] + attributes
+        allowed_attributes = ["align", "href"]
+
+        def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
+            super(Inner, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
+            self.allowed_elements = Inner.allowed_elements + elements
+            self.allowed_attributes = Inner.allowed_attributes + attributes
 
         # remove disallowed tokens from the output
         def disallowed_token(self, token, token_type):
@@ -65,13 +70,23 @@ def Markdown(extensions=("strikethrough", "superscript", "autolink")):
 
 
 class Markup(object):
+    """Text to HTML conversion using Markdown (+ configurable extensions) and
+    an HTML sanitizer to remove malicious elements.
+
+    :param options: a list of parameters for the used renderer
+    :param elements: allowed HTML elements in the output
+    :param attributes: allowed HTML attributes in the output
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self, options, elements=None, attributes=None):
+        if elements is None:
+            elements = []
 
-    def __init__(self, conf):
+        if attributes is None:
+            attributes = []
 
-        parser = Markdown(conf.getlist("options"))
-        sanitizer = Sanitizer(
-            conf.getlist("allowed-elements"),
-            conf.getlist("allowed-attributes"))
+        parser = Markdown(options)
+        sanitizer = Sanitizer(elements, attributes)
 
         self._render = lambda text: sanitize(sanitizer, parser(text))