diff --git a/plugin/markdown/markdown.js b/plugin/markdown/markdown.js
index d606a4b0..34458f22 100755
--- a/plugin/markdown/markdown.js
+++ b/plugin/markdown/markdown.js
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
 	var DEFAULT_SLIDE_SEPARATOR = '^\n---\n$',
 		DEFAULT_NOTES_SEPARATOR = 'note:',
 		DEFAULT_ELEMENT_ATTRIBUTES_SEPARATOR = '{\\\.\s*?([^}]+?)}',
-		DEFAULT_SLIDE_ATTRIBUTES_SEPARATOR = '^.*?<!--\\\sslide-attributes:\\\s(.*?)-->';
+		DEFAULT_SLIDE_ATTRIBUTES_SEPARATOR = 'slide-attributes:\\\s(.*?)$';
 
 
 	/**
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@
 				value = attributes[i].value;
 
 			// disregard attributes that are used for markdown loading/parsing
-			if( /data\-(markdown|separator|vertical|notes|attributes)/gi.test( name ) ) continue;
+			if( /data\-(markdown|separator|vertical|notes)/gi.test( name ) ) continue;
 
 			if( value ) {
 				result.push( name + '=' + value );
@@ -282,12 +282,13 @@
 		var mardownClassesInElementsRegex = new RegExp( separator, 'mg' );
 		var mardownClassRegex = new RegExp( "([^\"= ]+?)=\"([^\"=]+?)\"", 'mg' );
 		var nodeValue = node.nodeValue;
+		console.log("=== node.nodeValue='" + nodeValue + "' vs. separator '" + separator + "'");
 		if( matches = mardownClassesInElementsRegex.exec( nodeValue ) ) {
 
 			var classes = matches[1];
 			nodeValue = nodeValue.substring( 0, matches.index ) + nodeValue.substring( mardownClassesInElementsRegex.lastIndex );
 			node.nodeValue = nodeValue;
-
+			console.log("=========== classes='" + classes + "'");
 			while( matchesClass = mardownClassRegex.exec( classes ) ) {
 				elementTarget.setAttribute( matchesClass[1], matchesClass[2] );
 			}
@@ -302,15 +303,15 @@
 	 */
 	function addAttributes( section, element, previousElement, separatorElementAttributes, separatorSectionAttributes ) {
 
-		console.log("element='" + element.innerHTML + "', nodeType='" + element.nodeType + "'");
+		console.log("*** element='" + element.innerHTML + "', nodeType='" + element.nodeType + "'");
 		console.log("previousElement="+previousElement)
 		console.log("section=****"+section.outerHTML+"****");
-		if( element != null && element.childNodes != undefined && element.childNodes.length > 0 ) {
+		if ( element != null && element.childNodes != undefined && element.childNodes.length > 0 ) {
 			previousParentElement = element;
 			for( var i = 0; i < element.childNodes.length; i++ ) {
 				childElement = element.childNodes[i];
-				console.log("  Child element='" + childElement.innerHTML + "'");
-				if ( i > 0 ) {
+				console.log("  Child element='" + childElement.innerHTML + "', type " + childElement.nodeType);
+				if ( i > 0 && typeof element.childNodes[i-1].setAttribute == 'function' ) {
 					previousParentElement = element.childNodes[i-1];
 				}
 				parentSection = section;
@@ -318,7 +319,10 @@
 					parentSection = childElement ;
 					previousParentElement = childElement ;
 				}
-				addAttributes( parentSection, childElement, previousParentElement, separatorElementAttributes, separatorSectionAttributes );
+				if ( typeof childElement.setAttribute == 'function' || childElement.nodeType == Node.COMMENT_NODE ) {
+					console.log("   CALL addAttributes")
+					addAttributes( parentSection, childElement, previousParentElement, separatorElementAttributes, separatorSectionAttributes );
+				}
 			}
 		}
 
@@ -328,15 +332,15 @@
 			}
 		}
 		// From http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9178174/find-all-text-nodes
-		if( element.nodeType == Node.TEXT_NODE && /\S/.test(element.nodeValue) ) {
-			addAttributeInElement( element, element.parentNode, separatorElementAttributes );
-		}
-		if( element.nodeType == Node.ELEMENT_NODE && element.attributes.length > 0 ) {
-			for( var j = 0; j < element.attributes.length; j++ ){
-				var attr = element.attributes[j];
-				addAttributeInElement( attr, element, separatorElementAttributes );
-			}
-		}
+		//if( element.nodeType == Node.TEXT_NODE && /\S/.test(element.nodeValue) ) {
+		//	addAttributeInElement( element, element.parentNode, separatorElementAttributes );
+		//}
+		//if( element.nodeType == Node.ELEMENT_NODE && element.attributes.length > 0 ) {
+		//	for( var j = 0; j < element.attributes.length; j++ ){
+		//		var attr = element.attributes[j];
+		//		addAttributeInElement( attr, element, separatorElementAttributes );
+		//	}
+		//}
 
 	}
 
diff --git a/test/test-markdown-attributes.html b/test/test-markdown-attributes.html
index 8f77dac5..6818cd5d 100644
--- a/test/test-markdown-attributes.html
+++ b/test/test-markdown-attributes.html
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@
 				<section 	data-markdown data-separator="^\n\n\n"
 									data-vertical="^\n\n"
 									data-notes="^Note:"
-									data-attributes="^\s*?--\s(.*?)$"
+									data-attributes="--\s(.*?)$"
 									data-charset="utf-8">
 					<script type="text/template">
 						# Test attributes in Markdown
@@ -34,11 +34,11 @@
 
 
 						## Slide 2
-						-- id="slide2" data-transition="zoom" data-background="#A0C66B"
+						<!-- -- id="slide2" data-transition="zoom" data-background="#A0C66B" -->
 
 
 						## Slide 2.1
-						-- data-background="#ff0000" data-transition="fade"
+						<!-- -- data-background="#ff0000" data-transition="fade" -->
 
 
 						## Slide 2.2
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@
 
 
 						## Slide 3
-						-- data-transition="zoom" data-background="#C6916B"
+						<!-- -- data-transition="zoom" data-background="#C6916B" -->
 
 
 
diff --git a/test/test-markdown-element-attributes.html b/test/test-markdown-element-attributes.html
index e9f40389..6fe7f9a2 100644
--- a/test/test-markdown-element-attributes.html
+++ b/test/test-markdown-element-attributes.html
@@ -24,19 +24,26 @@
 				<!-- Slides are separated by newline + three dashes + newline, vertical slides identical but two dashes -->
 				<section data-markdown data-separator="^\n---\n$" data-vertical="^\n--\n$" data-element-attributes="{_\s*?([^}]+?)}">>
 					<script type="text/template">
-						## Slide 1.1 {_class="fragment fade-out" data-fragment-index="1"}
+						## Slide 1.1
+						<!-- {_class="fragment fade-out" data-fragment-index="1"} -->
 
 						--
 
-						## Slide 1.2 {_class="fragment shrink"}
+						## Slide 1.2
+						<!-- {_class="fragment shrink"} -->
 
-						Paragraph 1 {_class="fragment grow"}
+						Paragraph 1
+						<!-- {_class="fragment grow"} -->
 
-						Paragraph 2 {_class="fragment grow"}
+						Paragraph 2
+						<!-- {_class="fragment grow"} -->
 
-						- list item 1  {_class="fragment roll-in"}
-						- list item 2  {_class="fragment roll-in"}
-						- list item 3  {_class="fragment roll-in"}
+						- list item 1
+						<!-- {_class="fragment roll-in"} -->
+						- list item 2
+						<!-- {_class="fragment roll-in"} -->
+						- list item 3
+						<!-- {_class="fragment roll-in"} -->
 
 
 						---
@@ -44,24 +51,34 @@
 						## Slide 2
 
 
-						Paragraph 1.2
-						multi-line {_class="fragment highlight-red"}
+						Paragraph 1.2  
+						multi-line
+						<!-- {_class="fragment highlight-red"} -->
 
-						Paragraph 2.2 {_class="fragment highlight-red"}
+						Paragraph 2.2
+						<!-- {_class="fragment highlight-red"} -->
 
-						Paragraph 2.3 {_class="fragment highlight-red"}
+						Paragraph 2.3
+						<!-- {_class="fragment highlight-red"} -->
 
-						Paragraph 2.4 {_class="fragment highlight-red"}
+						Paragraph 2.4
+						<!-- {_class="fragment highlight-red"} -->
 
-						- list item 1  {_class="fragment highlight-green"}
-						- list item 2  {_class="fragment highlight-green"}
-						- list item 3  {_class="fragment highlight-green"}
-						- list item 4  {_class="fragment highlight-green"}
-						- list item 5  {_class="fragment highlight-green"}
+						- list item 1
+						<!-- {_class="fragment highlight-green"} -->
+						- list item 2
+						<!-- {_class="fragment highlight-green"} -->
+						- list item 3
+						<!-- {_class="fragment highlight-green"} -->
+						- list item 4
+						<!-- {_class="fragment highlight-green"} -->
+						- list item 5
+						<!-- {_class="fragment highlight-green"} -->
 
 						Test
 
-						![Example Picture{_class="reveal stretch"}](assets/image2.png)
+						![Example Picture](examples/assets/image2.png)
+						<!-- {_class="reveal stretch"} -->
 
 					</script>
 				</section>