diff --git a/Demo/xml/elem_count.py b/Demo/xml/elem_count.py
index 7b53189..f4e6ef5 100644
--- a/Demo/xml/elem_count.py
+++ b/Demo/xml/elem_count.py
@@ -1,4 +1,10 @@
+"""
+A simple demo that reads in an XML document and displays the number of
+elements and attributes as well as a tally of elements and attributes by name.
+"""
+
 import sys
+from collections import defaultdict
 
 from xml.sax import make_parser, handler
 
@@ -7,16 +13,16 @@
     def __init__(self):
         self._elems = 0
         self._attrs = 0
-        self._elem_types = {}
-        self._attr_types = {}
+        self._elem_types = defaultdict(int)
+        self._attr_types = defaultdict(int)
 
     def startElement(self, name, attrs):
-        self._elems = self._elems + 1
-        self._attrs = self._attrs + len(attrs)
-        self._elem_types[name] = self._elem_types.get(name, 0) + 1
+        self._elems += 1
+        self._attrs += len(attrs)
+        self._elem_types[name] += 1
 
         for name in attrs.keys():
-            self._attr_types[name] = self._attr_types.get(name, 0) + 1
+            self._attr_types[name] += 1
 
     def endDocument(self):
         print "There were", self._elems, "elements."
@@ -30,7 +36,7 @@
         for pair in  self._attr_types.items():
             print "%20s %d" % pair
 
-
-parser = make_parser()
-parser.setContentHandler(FancyCounter())
-parser.parse(sys.argv[1])
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    parser = make_parser()
+    parser.setContentHandler(FancyCounter())
+    parser.parse(sys.argv[1])
diff --git a/Demo/xml/roundtrip.py b/Demo/xml/roundtrip.py
index 8d7d437..801c009 100644
--- a/Demo/xml/roundtrip.py
+++ b/Demo/xml/roundtrip.py
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 but not necessarily identical, document.
 """
 
-import sys, string
+import sys
 
 from xml.sax import saxutils, handler, make_parser
 
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 
 class ContentGenerator(handler.ContentHandler):
 
-    def __init__(self, out = sys.stdout):
+    def __init__(self, out=sys.stdout):
         handler.ContentHandler.__init__(self)
         self._out = out
 
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@
 
 # --- The main program
 
-parser = make_parser()
-parser.setContentHandler(ContentGenerator())
-parser.parse(sys.argv[1])
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    parser = make_parser()
+    parser.setContentHandler(ContentGenerator())
+    parser.parse(sys.argv[1])
diff --git a/Demo/xml/rss2html.py b/Demo/xml/rss2html.py
index 15c9891..f2067a9 100644
--- a/Demo/xml/rss2html.py
+++ b/Demo/xml/rss2html.py
@@ -1,45 +1,50 @@
+"""
+A demo that reads in an RSS XML document and emits an HTML file containing
+a list of the individual items in the feed.
+"""
+
 import sys
+import codecs
 
 from xml.sax import make_parser, handler
 
 # --- Templates
 
-top = \
-"""
+top = """\
 <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
-<HTML>
-<HEAD>
-  <TITLE>%s</TITLE>
-</HEAD>
+<html>
+<head>
+  <title>%s</title>
+  <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
+</head>
 
-<BODY>
-<H1>%s</H1>
+<body>
+<h1>%s</h1>
 """
 
-bottom = \
-"""
+bottom = """
 </ul>
 
-<HR>
-<ADDRESS>
-Converted to HTML by sax_rss2html.py.
-</ADDRESS>
+<hr>
+<address>
+Converted to HTML by rss2html.py.
+</address>
 
-</BODY>
-</HTML>
+</body>
+</html>
 """
 
 # --- The ContentHandler
 
 class RSSHandler(handler.ContentHandler):
 
-    def __init__(self, out = sys.stdout):
+    def __init__(self, out=sys.stdout):
         handler.ContentHandler.__init__(self)
-        self._out = out
+        self._out = codecs.getwriter('utf-8')(out)
 
         self._text = ""
         self._parent = None
-        self._list_started = 0
+        self._list_started = False
         self._title = None
         self._link = None
         self._descr = ""
@@ -69,7 +74,7 @@
             elif name == "item":
                 if not self._list_started:
                     self._out.write("<ul>\n")
-                    self._list_started = 1
+                    self._list_started = True
 
                 self._out.write('  <li><a href="%s">%s</a> %s\n' %
                                 (self._link, self._title, self._descr))
@@ -86,6 +91,7 @@
 
 # --- Main program
 
-parser = make_parser()
-parser.setContentHandler(RSSHandler())
-parser.parse(sys.argv[1])
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    parser = make_parser()
+    parser.setContentHandler(RSSHandler())
+    parser.parse(sys.argv[1])