diff --git a/apps/gui/skin_engine/skin_display.c b/apps/gui/skin_engine/skin_display.c
index 95e4310..a352252 100644
--- a/apps/gui/skin_engine/skin_display.c
+++ b/apps/gui/skin_engine/skin_display.c
@@ -406,7 +406,7 @@ void wps_display_images(struct gui_wps *gwps, struct viewport* vp)
             {
                 wps_draw_image(gwps, img, img->display);
             }
-            else if (img->always_display && img->vp == vp)
+            else if (img->always_display && SKINOFFSETTOPTR(skin_buffer, img->vp) == vp)
             {
                 wps_draw_image(gwps, img, 0);
             }
diff --git a/apps/gui/skin_engine/skin_engine.c b/apps/gui/skin_engine/skin_engine.c
index bd875fe..8a6152f 100644
--- a/apps/gui/skin_engine/skin_engine.c
+++ b/apps/gui/skin_engine/skin_engine.c
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ void theme_init_buffer(void)
     skins_initialising = false;
 }
 #else
-static char skin_buffer[SKIN_BUFFER_SIZE];
+char skin_buffer[SKIN_BUFFER_SIZE];
 void theme_init_buffer(void)
 {
     skins_initialising = false;
diff --git a/apps/gui/skin_engine/skin_parser.c b/apps/gui/skin_engine/skin_parser.c
index 1557783..bf2179c 100644
--- a/apps/gui/skin_engine/skin_parser.c
+++ b/apps/gui/skin_engine/skin_parser.c
@@ -168,7 +168,7 @@ void *skin_find_item(const char *label, enum skin_find_what what,
 #ifdef HAVE_LCD_BITMAP
             case SKIN_FIND_IMAGE:
                 ret = list.linkedlist->token->value.data;
-                itemlabel = ((struct gui_img *)ret)->label;
+                itemlabel = SKINOFFSETTOPTR(skin_buffer, ((struct gui_img *)ret)->label);
                 break;
 #endif
 #ifdef HAVE_TOUCHSCREEN
@@ -295,9 +295,9 @@ static int parse_image_display(struct skin_element *element,
     {
         return WPS_ERROR_INVALID_PARAM;
     }
-    id->label = label;
+    id->label = PTRTOSKINOFFSET(skin_buffer, label);
     id->offset = 0;
-    id->token = NULL;
+    id->token = PTRTOSKINOFFSET(skin_buffer, NULL);
     if (img->using_preloaded_icons)
     {
         token->type = SKIN_TOKEN_IMAGE_DISPLAY_LISTICON;
@@ -306,7 +306,7 @@ static int parse_image_display(struct skin_element *element,
     if (element->params_count > 1)
     {
         if (element->params[1].type == CODE)
-            id->token = element->params[1].data.code->data;
+            id->token = PTRTOSKINOFFSET(skin_buffer, element->params[1].data.code->data);
         /* specify a number. 1 being the first subimage (i.e top) NOT 0 */
         else if (element->params[1].type == INTEGER)
             id->subimage = element->params[1].data.number - 1;
@@ -358,7 +358,7 @@ static int parse_image_load(struct skin_element *element,
         return WPS_ERROR_INVALID_PARAM;
     /* save a pointer to the filename */
     img->bm.data = (char*)filename;
-    img->label = id;
+    img->label = PTRTOSKINOFFSET(skin_buffer, id);
     img->x = x;
     img->y = y;
     img->num_subimages = 1;
@@ -368,7 +368,7 @@ static int parse_image_load(struct skin_element *element,
     img->buflib_handle = -1;
 
     /* save current viewport */
-    img->vp = &curr_vp->vp;
+    img->vp = PTRTOSKINOFFSET(skin_buffer, &curr_vp->vp);
 
     if (token->type == SKIN_TOKEN_IMAGE_DISPLAY)
     {
@@ -924,7 +924,7 @@ static int parse_progressbar_tag(struct skin_element* element,
                 return WPS_ERROR_INVALID_PARAM;
             /* save a pointer to the filename */
             img->bm.data = (char*)image_filename;
-            img->label = image_filename;
+            img->label = PTRTOSKINOFFSET(skin_buffer, image_filename);
             img->x = 0;
             img->y = 0;
             img->num_subimages = 1;
@@ -932,7 +932,7 @@ static int parse_progressbar_tag(struct skin_element* element,
             img->display = -1;
             img->using_preloaded_icons = false;
             img->buflib_handle = -1;
-            img->vp = &curr_vp->vp;
+            img->vp = PTRTOSKINOFFSET(skin_buffer, &curr_vp->vp);
             struct skin_token_list *item = 
                     (struct skin_token_list *)new_skin_token_list_item(NULL, img);
             if (!item)
diff --git a/apps/gui/skin_engine/skin_render.c b/apps/gui/skin_engine/skin_render.c
index 369bd46..3213470 100644
--- a/apps/gui/skin_engine/skin_render.c
+++ b/apps/gui/skin_engine/skin_render.c
@@ -184,11 +184,11 @@ static bool do_non_text_tags(struct gui_wps *gwps, struct skin_draw_info *info,
         case SKIN_TOKEN_IMAGE_PRELOAD_DISPLAY:
         {
             struct image_display *id = token->value.data;
-            const char* label = id->label;
+            const char* label = SKINOFFSETTOPTR(skin_buffer, id->label);
             struct gui_img *img = skin_find_item(label,SKIN_FIND_IMAGE, data);
             if (img && img->loaded)
             {
-                if (id->token == NULL)
+                if (SKINOFFSETTOPTR(skin_buffer, id->token) == NULL)
                 {
                     img->display = id->subimage;
                 }
@@ -197,8 +197,8 @@ static bool do_non_text_tags(struct gui_wps *gwps, struct skin_draw_info *info,
                     char buf[16];
                     const char *out;
                     int a = img->num_subimages;
-                    out = get_token_value(gwps, id->token, info->offset, 
-                                          buf, sizeof(buf), &a);
+                    out = get_token_value(gwps, SKINOFFSETTOPTR(skin_buffer, id->token),
+                            info->offset, buf, sizeof(buf), &a);
 
                     /* NOTE: get_token_value() returns values starting at 1! */
                     if (a == -1)
@@ -331,7 +331,7 @@ static void do_tags_in_hidden_conditional(struct skin_element* branch,
             if (token->type == SKIN_TOKEN_IMAGE_PRELOAD_DISPLAY)
             {
                 struct image_display *id = token->value.data;
-                struct gui_img *img = skin_find_item(id->label, 
+                struct gui_img *img = skin_find_item(SKINOFFSETTOPTR(skin_buffer, id->label), 
                                                      SKIN_FIND_IMAGE, data);
                 clear_image_pos(gwps, img);
             }
diff --git a/apps/gui/skin_engine/wps_internals.h b/apps/gui/skin_engine/wps_internals.h
index ed09ad0..7c61a4e 100644
--- a/apps/gui/skin_engine/wps_internals.h
+++ b/apps/gui/skin_engine/wps_internals.h
@@ -25,6 +25,16 @@
 #ifndef _WPS_ENGINE_INTERNALS_
 #define _WPS_ENGINE_INTERNALS_
 
+/* Use this type and macro to convert a pointer from the
+ * skin buffer to a useable pointer */
+typedef long skinoffset;
+#define SKINOFFSETTOPTR(base, offset) ((offset) < 0 ? NULL : ((void*)&base[offset]))
+#define PTRTOSKINOFFSET(base, pointer) ((pointer) ? ((void*)pointer-(void*)base) : -1)
+/* Use this macro when declaring a variable to self-document the code.
+ * type is the actual type being pointed to (i.e OFFSETTYPE(char*) foo )
+ */
+#define OFFSETTYPE(type) skinoffset
+extern char skin_buffer[];
 
 /* Timeout unit expressed in HZ. In WPS, all timeouts are given in seconds
    (possibly with a decimal fraction) but stored as integer values.
@@ -71,14 +81,14 @@
 
 #ifdef HAVE_LCD_BITMAP
 struct gui_img {
-    struct viewport* vp;    /* The viewport to display this image in */
+    OFFSETTYPE(struct viewport*) vp;    /* The viewport to display this image in */
     short int x;                  /* x-pos */
     short int y;                  /* y-pos */
     short int num_subimages;      /* number of sub-images */
     short int subimage_height;    /* height of each sub-image */
     struct bitmap bm;
     int buflib_handle;
-    const char *label;
+    OFFSETTYPE(char*) label;
     bool loaded;            /* load state */
     bool always_display;    /* not using the preload/display mechanism */
     int display;
@@ -86,9 +96,9 @@ struct gui_img {
 };
 
 struct image_display {
-    const char *label;
+    OFFSETTYPE(char*) label;
     int subimage;
-    struct wps_token *token; /* the token to get the subimage number from */
+    OFFSETTYPE(struct wps_token*) token; /* the token to get the subimage number from */
     int offset; /* offset into the bitmap strip to start */
 };