diff --git a/src/node/db/API.js b/src/node/db/API.js
index 2c8b91abb..ef341bef9 100644
--- a/src/node/db/API.js
+++ b/src/node/db/API.js
@@ -618,7 +618,6 @@ exports.createDiff = function(padID, startRev, endRev, callback){
     try {
       var padDiff = new PadDiff(pad, startRev, endRev);
     } catch(e) {
-      // console.warn(e.stack);
       return callback({stop:e.message});
     }
     var html, authors;
diff --git a/src/node/db/AuthorManager.js b/src/node/db/AuthorManager.js
index 28b2dd91e..667e0605d 100644
--- a/src/node/db/AuthorManager.js
+++ b/src/node/db/AuthorManager.js
@@ -24,6 +24,10 @@ var db = require("./DB").db;
 var async = require("async");
 var randomString = require('ep_etherpad-lite/static/js/pad_utils').randomString;
 
+exports.getColorPalette = function(){
+  return ["#ffc7c7", "#fff1c7", "#e3ffc7", "#c7ffd5", "#c7ffff", "#c7d5ff", "#e3c7ff", "#ffc7f1", "#ff8f8f", "#ffe38f", "#c7ff8f", "#8fffab", "#8fffff", "#8fabff", "#c78fff", "#ff8fe3", "#d97979", "#d9c179", "#a9d979", "#79d991", "#79d9d9", "#7991d9", "#a979d9", "#d979c1", "#d9a9a9", "#d9cda9", "#c1d9a9", "#a9d9b5", "#a9d9d9", "#a9b5d9", "#c1a9d9", "#d9a9cd", "#4c9c82", "#12d1ad", "#2d8e80", "#7485c3", "#a091c7", "#3185ab", "#6818b4", "#e6e76d", "#a42c64", "#f386e5", "#4ecc0c", "#c0c236", "#693224", "#b5de6a", "#9b88fd", "#358f9b", "#496d2f", "#e267fe", "#d23056", "#1a1a64", "#5aa335", "#d722bb", "#86dc6c", "#b5a714", "#955b6a", "#9f2985", "#4b81c8", "#3d6a5b", "#434e16", "#d16084", "#af6a0e", "#8c8bd8"];
+};
+
 /**
  * Checks if the author exists
  */
diff --git a/src/node/db/Pad.js b/src/node/db/Pad.js
index 037886eac..4701e82a3 100644
--- a/src/node/db/Pad.js
+++ b/src/node/db/Pad.js
@@ -227,7 +227,8 @@ Pad.prototype.getAllAuthorColors = function getAllAuthorColors(callback){
       if(err){
         return callback(err);
       }
-      returnTable[author]=colorPalette[colorId];
+      //colorId might be a hex color or an number out of the palette
+      returnTable[author]=colorPalette[colorId] || colorId;
 
       callback();
     });
diff --git a/src/node/handler/PadMessageHandler.js b/src/node/handler/PadMessageHandler.js
index 434c25ad6..24f72c796 100644
--- a/src/node/handler/PadMessageHandler.js
+++ b/src/node/handler/PadMessageHandler.js
@@ -1028,7 +1028,7 @@ function handleClientReady(client, message)
               "globalPadId": message.padId,
               "time": currentTime,
           },
-          "colorPalette": ["#ffc7c7", "#fff1c7", "#e3ffc7", "#c7ffd5", "#c7ffff", "#c7d5ff", "#e3c7ff", "#ffc7f1", "#ff8f8f", "#ffe38f", "#c7ff8f", "#8fffab", "#8fffff", "#8fabff", "#c78fff", "#ff8fe3", "#d97979", "#d9c179", "#a9d979", "#79d991", "#79d9d9", "#7991d9", "#a979d9", "#d979c1", "#d9a9a9", "#d9cda9", "#c1d9a9", "#a9d9b5", "#a9d9d9", "#a9b5d9", "#c1a9d9", "#d9a9cd", "#4c9c82", "#12d1ad", "#2d8e80", "#7485c3", "#a091c7", "#3185ab", "#6818b4", "#e6e76d", "#a42c64", "#f386e5", "#4ecc0c", "#c0c236", "#693224", "#b5de6a", "#9b88fd", "#358f9b", "#496d2f", "#e267fe", "#d23056", "#1a1a64", "#5aa335", "#d722bb", "#86dc6c", "#b5a714", "#955b6a", "#9f2985", "#4b81c8", "#3d6a5b", "#434e16", "#d16084", "#af6a0e", "#8c8bd8"],
+          "colorPalette": authorManager.getColorPalette(),
           "clientIp": "127.0.0.1",
           "userIsGuest": true,
           "userColor": authorColorId,
diff --git a/src/node/utils/ExportHtml.js b/src/node/utils/ExportHtml.js
index f385d4704..d9ba3df48 100644
--- a/src/node/utils/ExportHtml.js
+++ b/src/node/utils/ExportHtml.js
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 /**
  * Copyright 2009 Google Inc.
- * 
+ *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
  * You may obtain a copy of the License at
- * 
+ *
  *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
- * 
+ *
  * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
  * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS-IS" BASIS,
  * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ function getPadHTML(pad, revNum, callback)
 
 exports.getPadHTML = getPadHTML;
 
-exports.getHTMLFromAtext = function(pad, atext)
+exports.getHTMLFromAtext = function(pad, atext, authorColors)
 {
   var apool = pad.apool();
   var textLines = atext.text.slice(0, -1).split('\n');
@@ -101,6 +101,42 @@ exports.getHTMLFromAtext = function(pad, atext)
   var tags = ['h1', 'h2', 'strong', 'em', 'u', 's'];
   var props = ['heading1', 'heading2', 'bold', 'italic', 'underline', 'strikethrough'];
   var anumMap = {};
+  var css = "";
+
+  var stripDotFromAuthorID = function(id){
+    return id.replace(/\./g,'_');
+  };
+
+  if(authorColors){
+    css+="<style>\n";
+    
+    for (var a in apool.numToAttrib) {
+      var attr = apool.numToAttrib[a];
+      
+      //skip non author attributes
+      if(attr[0] === "author" && attr[1] !== ""){
+        //add to props array
+        var propName = "author" + stripDotFromAuthorID(attr[1]);
+        var newLength = props.push(propName);
+        anumMap[a] = newLength -1;
+        
+        css+="." + propName + " {background-color: " + authorColors[attr[1]]+ "}\n";
+      } else if(attr[0] === "removed") {
+        var propName = "removed";
+        
+        var newLength = props.push(propName);
+        anumMap[a] = newLength -1;
+        
+        css+=".removed {text-decoration: line-through; " + 
+             "-ms-filter:'progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.Alpha(Opacity=80)'; "+ 
+             "filter: alpha(opacity=80); "+
+             "opacity: 0.8; "+
+             "}\n";
+      }
+    }
+    
+    css+="</style>";
+  }
 
   props.forEach(function (propName, i)
   {
@@ -125,22 +161,53 @@ exports.getHTMLFromAtext = function(pad, atext)
     // <b>Just bold <i>Bold and italics</i></b> <i>Just italics</i>
     var taker = Changeset.stringIterator(text);
     var assem = Changeset.stringAssembler();
-
     var openTags = [];
+
+    function getSpanClassFor(i){
+      //return if author colors are disabled
+      if (!authorColors) return false;
+      
+      var property = props[i];
+   
+      if(property.substr(0,6) === "author"){
+        return stripDotFromAuthorID(property);
+      }
+      
+      if(property === "removed"){
+        return "removed";
+      }
+      
+      return false;
+    }
+
     function emitOpenTag(i)
     {
       openTags.unshift(i);
-      assem.append('<');
-      assem.append(tags[i]);
-      assem.append('>');
+      var spanClass = getSpanClassFor(i);
+      
+      if(spanClass){
+        assem.append('<span class="');
+        assem.append(spanClass);
+        assem.append('">');
+      } else {
+        assem.append('<');
+        assem.append(tags[i]);
+        assem.append('>');
+      }
     }
 
     function emitCloseTag(i)
     {
       openTags.shift();
-      assem.append('</');
-      assem.append(tags[i]);
-      assem.append('>');
+      var spanClass = getSpanClassFor(i);
+      
+      if(spanClass){
+        assem.append('</span>');
+      } else {
+        assem.append('</');
+        assem.append(tags[i]);
+        assem.append('>');
+      }
     }
     
     function orderdCloseTags(tags2close)
@@ -303,7 +370,7 @@ exports.getHTMLFromAtext = function(pad, atext)
 
     return _processSpaces(assem.toString());
   } // end getLineHTML
-  var pieces = [];
+  var pieces = [css];
 
   // Need to deal with constraints imposed on HTML lists; can
   // only gain one level of nesting at once, can't change type
diff --git a/src/node/utils/padDiff.js b/src/node/utils/padDiff.js
index b1fa9277a..1b3cf58f5 100644
--- a/src/node/utils/padDiff.js
+++ b/src/node/utils/padDiff.js
@@ -244,17 +244,14 @@ PadDiff.prototype.getHtml = function(callback){
     },
     //get the authorColor table
     function(callback){
-      /* 
-        self._pad.getAllAuthorColors(function(err, _authorColors){ // TODO
+      self._pad.getAllAuthorColors(function(err, _authorColors){
         if(err){
           return callback(err);
         }
         
         authorColors = _authorColors;
+        callback();
       });
-      */
-      authorColors = {};
-      callback();
     },
     //convert the atext to html
     function(callback){
@@ -265,7 +262,7 @@ PadDiff.prototype.getHtml = function(callback){
   ], function(err){
     callback(err, html);
   });
-}
+};
  
 PadDiff.prototype.getAuthors = function(callback){
   var self = this;