diff --git a/ui (gen4)/data.js b/ui (gen4)/data.js
index 6bca2ea7..42b7ece2 100755
--- a/ui (gen4)/data.js	
+++ b/ui (gen4)/data.js	
@@ -110,8 +110,7 @@ if(typeof(sha1) != 'undefined'){
 
 // Data class methods and API...
 //
-var DataClassPrototype =
-module.DataClassPrototype = {
+var DataClassPrototype = {
 	// NOTE: we consider the input list sorted...
 	fromArray: function(list){
 		var res = new Data()
@@ -139,8 +138,7 @@ module.DataClassPrototype = {
 
 // Data object methods and API...
 //
-var DataPrototype =
-module.DataPrototype = {
+var DataPrototype = {
 
 	/*****************************************************************/
 	//
@@ -188,7 +186,21 @@ module.DataPrototype = {
 	// 		NOTE: ribbons are sparse...
 	// 		NOTE: ribbons can be compact when serialized...
 	//
-	//
+	/*****************************************************************/
+
+	// XXX is this a good name for this??? (see: object.js)
+	__init__: function(json){
+		// load initial state...
+		if(json != null){
+			this.loadJSON(json)
+		} else {
+			this._reset()
+		}
+		return this
+	},
+
+
+
 	/******************************************************* Utils ***/
 	
 	// Make a sparse list of image gids...
@@ -1806,32 +1818,12 @@ module.DataPrototype = {
 /*********************************************************************/
 
 // Main Data object...
-//
-/*
 var Data = 
-module.Data =
-function Data(json){
-	// in case this is called as a function (without new)...
-	if(this.constructor !== Data){
-		return new Data(json)
-	}
+module.Data = 
+object.makeConstructor('Data', 
+		DataClassPrototype, 
+		DataPrototype)
 
-	// load initial state...
-	if(json != null){
-		this.loadJSON(json)
-	} else {
-		this._reset()
-	}
-
-	return this
-}
-Data.__proto__ = DataClassPrototype
-Data.prototype = DataPrototype
-Data.prototype.constructor = Data
-*/
-
-var Data = 
-module.Data = object.makeConstructor('Data', DataClassPrototype, DataPrototype)
 
 
 /**********************************************************************
diff --git a/ui (gen4)/images.js b/ui (gen4)/images.js
index da058674..237354bf 100755
--- a/ui (gen4)/images.js	
+++ b/ui (gen4)/images.js	
@@ -11,6 +11,9 @@ console.log('>>> images')
 
 var sha1 = require('./ext-lib/sha1')
 
+var object = require('object')
+
+
 
 /*********************************************************************/
 
@@ -260,6 +263,18 @@ module.ImagesClassPrototype = {
 var ImagesPrototype =
 module.ImagesPrototype = {
 
+	// XXX is this a good name for this??? (see: object.js)
+	__init__: function(json){
+		// load initial state...
+		if(json != null){
+			this.loadJSON(json)
+		} else {
+			this._reset()
+		}
+		return this
+	},
+
+
 	get length(){
 		return Object.keys(this).length
 	},
@@ -546,27 +561,11 @@ module.ImagesPrototype = {
 /*********************************************************************/
 
 // Main Images object...
-//
 var Images = 
-module.Images =
-function Images(json){
-	// in case this is called as a function (without new)...
-	if(this.constructor !== Images){
-		return new Images(json)
-	}
-
-	// load initial state...
-	if(json != null){
-		this.loadJSON(json)
-	} else {
-		this._reset()
-	}
-
-	return this
-}
-Images.__proto__ = ImagesClassPrototype
-Images.prototype = ImagesPrototype
-Images.prototype.constructor = Images
+module.Images = 
+object.makeConstructor('Images', 
+		ImagesClassPrototype, 
+		ImagesPrototype)
 
 
 
diff --git a/ui (gen4)/object.js b/ui (gen4)/object.js
index ea35abfd..fc36eeb9 100755
--- a/ui (gen4)/object.js	
+++ b/ui (gen4)/object.js	
@@ -20,23 +20,36 @@ function makeConstructor(name, a, b){
 	var proto = b == null ? a : b
 	var cls_proto = b == null ? b : a
 
-	var _constructor = function Constructor(json){
+	var _constructor = function Constructor(){
 		// in case this is called as a function (without new)...
 		if(this.constructor !== _constructor){
-			return new _constructor(json)
+			// NOTE: the folowing does the job of the 'new' operator but
+			// 		with one advantage, we can now pass arbitrarry args 
+			// 		in...
+			// 		This is equivalent to:
+			//			return new _constructor(json)
+			var obj = {}
+			obj.__proto__ = _constructor.prototype
+			obj.constructor = _constructor
+
+		} else {
+			var obj = this
 		}
 
 		// load initial state...
-		if(json != null){
-			this.loadJSON(json)
-		} else {
-			this._reset()
+		if(obj.__init__ != null){
+			obj.__init__.apply(obj, arguments)
 		}
 
-		return this
+		return obj
 	}
 
-	eval('_constructor = '+ _constructor.toString().replace(/Constructor/g, name))
+	// this is here to make Chrome output more user friendly...
+	if(_constructor.name == 'Constructor'){
+		eval('_constructor = '+ _constructor
+				.toString()
+				.replace(/Constructor/g, name))
+	}
 
 	_constructor.__proto__ = cls_proto
 	_constructor.prototype = proto
diff --git a/ui (gen4)/ribbons.js b/ui (gen4)/ribbons.js
index cc0b9b67..7857565e 100755
--- a/ui (gen4)/ribbons.js	
+++ b/ui (gen4)/ribbons.js	
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ console.log('>>> ribbons')
 // XXX is this correct...
 require('ext-lib/jquery')
 
+var object = require('object')
+
 var data = require('data')
 var images = require('images')
 
@@ -64,8 +66,7 @@ var RIBBON = '.ribbon:not(.clone)'
 //
 /*********************************************************************/
 
-var RibbonsClassPrototype =
-module.RibbonsClassPrototype = {
+var RibbonsClassPrototype = {
 	// Generic getters...
 	getElemGID: function(elem){
 		return JSON.parse('"' + elem.attr('gid') + '"')
@@ -114,8 +115,7 @@ module.RibbonsClassPrototype = {
 
 
 // NOTE: this is a low level interface, not a set of actions...
-var RibbonsPrototype =
-module.RibbonsPrototype = {
+var RibbonsPrototype = {
 	//
 	//	.viewer (jQuery object)
 	//
@@ -123,6 +123,12 @@ module.RibbonsPrototype = {
 	//
 	// XXX to update images we need to know about images...
 	
+	__init__: function(viewer, images){
+		this.viewer = $(viewer)
+		this.images = images
+	},
+
+
 	// Constructors...
 	createViewer: RibbonsClassPrototype.createViewer,
 	createRibbon: RibbonsClassPrototype.createRibbon,
@@ -1757,30 +1763,17 @@ module.RibbonsPrototype = {
 	},
 
 
-	_setup: function(viewer, images){
-		this.viewer = $(viewer)
-		this.images = images
-	},
 } 
 
 
-// Main Ribbons object...
-//
-var Ribbons =
-module.Ribbons =
-function Ribbons(viewer, images){
-	// in case this is called as a function (without new)...
-	if(this.constructor !== Ribbons){
-		return new Ribbons(viewer, images)
-	}
 
-	this._setup(viewer, images)
+/*********************************************************************/
 
-	return this
-}
-Ribbons.__proto__ = RibbonsClassPrototype
-Ribbons.prototype = RibbonsPrototype
-Ribbons.prototype.constructor = Ribbons
+var Ribbons = 
+module.Ribbons = 
+object.makeConstructor('Ribbons', 
+		RibbonsClassPrototype, 
+		RibbonsPrototype)
 
 
 
diff --git a/ui (gen4)/tags.js b/ui (gen4)/tags.js
index ba2f2ab6..92fc85d4 100755
--- a/ui (gen4)/tags.js	
+++ b/ui (gen4)/tags.js	
@@ -29,8 +29,13 @@ var TagsPrototype = {
 }
 
 
+/*********************************************************************/
+
 var Tags =
-module.Tags = object.makeConstructor('Tags', TagsClassPrototype, TagsPrototype)
+module.Tags = 
+object.makeConstructor('Tags', 
+		TagsClassPrototype, 
+		TagsPrototype)