diff --git a/html/README b/html/README
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ecd393fc9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/html/README
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+Documentation Restructuring
+  high level pages
+    download
+    previous verisons
+    tutorial
+      recurrence
+      priorities
+      subprojects
+      tags
+
+
+  need page banner
+  need task link off beckinghma.net 
+
diff --git a/src/command.cpp b/src/command.cpp
index d92e35c22..7f2a2bcee 100644
--- a/src/command.cpp
+++ b/src/command.cpp
@@ -279,7 +279,7 @@ void handleVersion (Config& conf)
                    "file."
                 << std::endl;
 
-    if (access (conf.get ("data.location").c_str (), X_OK))
+    if (access (expandPath (conf.get ("data.location")).c_str (), X_OK))
       std::cout << "Configuration error: data.location contains a directory name"
                    " that doesn't exist, or is unreadable."
                 << std::endl;
diff --git a/src/task.cpp b/src/task.cpp
index ba48c472e..183361887 100644
--- a/src/task.cpp
+++ b/src/task.cpp
@@ -286,7 +286,7 @@ int main (int argc, char** argv)
     }
 
     TDB tdb;
-    tdb.dataDirectory (conf.get ("data.location"));
+    tdb.dataDirectory (expandPath (conf.get ("data.location")));
 
     // Log commands, if desired.
     if (conf.get ("command.logging") == "on")
diff --git a/src/task.h b/src/task.h
index e6467fd54..9060c7dde 100644
--- a/src/task.h
+++ b/src/task.h
@@ -119,6 +119,7 @@ std::string formatSeconds (time_t);
 const std::string uuid ();
 const char* optionalBlankLine (Config&);
 int convertDuration (std::string&);
+std::string expandPath (const std::string&);
 
 // rules.cpp
 void initializeColorRules (Config&);
diff --git a/src/util.cpp b/src/util.cpp
index 99ed46752..e96229f9b 100644
--- a/src/util.cpp
+++ b/src/util.cpp
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@
 #include <unistd.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <string.h>
+#include <pwd.h>
 #include "Date.h"
 #include "Table.h"
 #include "task.h"
@@ -304,3 +305,29 @@ int convertDuration (std::string& input)
 }
 
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+std::string expandPath (const std::string& in)
+{
+  std::string copy = in;
+  unsigned int tilde;
+
+  if ((tilde = copy.find ("~/")) != std::string::npos)
+  {
+    struct passwd* pw = getpwuid (getuid ());
+    copy.replace (tilde, 1, pw->pw_dir);
+  }
+  else if ((tilde = copy.find ("~")) != std::string::npos)
+  {
+    unsigned int slash;
+    if ((slash = copy.find  ("/", tilde)) != std::string::npos)
+    {
+      std::string name = copy.substr (tilde + 1, slash - tilde - 1);
+      struct passwd* pw = getpwnam (name.c_str ());
+      if (pw)
+        copy.replace (tilde, slash - tilde, pw->pw_dir);
+    }
+  }
+
+  return copy;
+}
+
+////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////