diff --git a/app/controllers/application_controller.rb b/app/controllers/application_controller.rb
index fb4ee359..9f1fde94 100644
--- a/app/controllers/application_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/application_controller.rb
@@ -42,6 +42,8 @@ class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
   extend ActionView::Helpers::SanitizeHelper::ClassMethods
   helper_method :format_date, :markdown
 
+    I18n.locale = Tracks::Config.locale
+
   # By default, sets the charset to UTF-8 if it isn't already set
   def set_charset
     headers["Content-Type"] ||= "text/html; charset=UTF-8" 
@@ -276,8 +278,7 @@ class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
   
   def set_time_zone
     Time.zone = current_user.prefs.time_zone if logged_in?
-    locale = params[:locale] || 'en-US'
-    I18n.locale = locale
+    I18n.locale = Tracks::Config.locale
   end
 
   def set_zindex_counter
diff --git a/app/views/login/login.html.erb b/app/views/login/login.html.erb
index ee1665b3..b4a1dda5 100644
--- a/app/views/login/login.html.erb
+++ b/app/views/login/login.html.erb
@@ -9,8 +9,6 @@
   <%= render_flash %>
 
   <h3>Please log in to use Tracks:</h3>
-  <p>auth method <%=cookies[:preferred_auth]%></p></p>
-  <p>cas user<%=session[:cas_user]%></p></p>
 <% if show_database_form %>
   <div id="database_auth_form" style="display:<%=(@prefered_auth.eql?('database')) ? "block" : "none"%>">
       <% form_tag :action=> 'login' do %>
diff --git a/app/views/users/new.html.erb b/app/views/users/new.html.erb
index aa72e800..3e19e07c 100644
--- a/app/views/users/new.html.erb
+++ b/app/views/users/new.html.erb
@@ -1,23 +1,22 @@
 <div title="Account signup" id="signupform" class="form">
 <% form_tag :action=> "create" do %>
 
-  <%= error_messages_for 'user' %><br/>
+  <%#= error_messages_for 'user' %><br/>
 
   <%= render_flash %>
 	
   <h3><%= @heading -%></h3>
 
-  <table>
   <table>
 	<%if Tracks::Config.auth_schemes.include?('cas') && session[:cas_user]%>
         <tr>
       <td><label for="user_login">With your CAS username:</label></td>
       <td> "<%= session[:cas_user]%>"  </td>
-    </tr>
-    <tr style="display:none">
-      <td><%= session[:cas_user]%>" <%= text_field "user", "login", :size => 20, :value => session[:cas_user], :readonly => true %> </td>
-      <td><%= password_field "user", "password", :size => 20 , :value => "fakebecauseweusecas" %></td>
-      <td><%= password_field "user", "password_confirmation", :size => 20, :value => "fakebecauseweusecas"  %></td>
+      <td>
+        <%= hidden_field "user", "login",                   :value => session[:cas_user] %>
+        <%= hidden_field "user", "password",                :value => session[:cas_user] %>
+        <%= hidden_field "user", "password_confirmation",   :value => session[:cas_user] %>
+        <%= hidden_field"user", "auth_type",                :value => "cas" %></td>
     </tr>
 	<%else%>
     <tr>
diff --git a/config/site.yml.tmpl b/config/site.yml.tmpl
index 91389652..097ef9e1 100644
--- a/config/site.yml.tmpl
+++ b/config/site.yml.tmpl
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ authentication_schemes:
 # You''ll probably want to change this to the time zone of the computer where Tracks is running
 # run rake time:zones:local have Rails suggest time zone names on your system
 time_zone: "UTC"
+locale: 'en-US'
 
 
 # setting this to true will make the cookies only available over HTTPS
diff --git a/lib/tracks/config.rb b/lib/tracks/config.rb
index 0ca04f97..cd5eca02 100644
--- a/lib/tracks/config.rb
+++ b/lib/tracks/config.rb
@@ -23,5 +23,10 @@ module Tracks
         auth_schemes.first
       end
     end
+
+    def self.locale
+       SITE_CONFIG['locale'] || 'en-US'
+    end
+
   end
 end
\ No newline at end of file