diff --git a/lib/WebGUI/Form/HTMLArea.pm b/lib/WebGUI/Form/HTMLArea.pm
index 7394a1985..efb573a58 100644
--- a/lib/WebGUI/Form/HTMLArea.pm
+++ b/lib/WebGUI/Form/HTMLArea.pm
@@ -129,6 +129,13 @@ sub toHtml {
         WebGUI::Style::setScript($session{config}{extrasURL}.'/textFix.js',{ type=>'text/javascript' });
 	$self->{extras} .= ' onblur="fixChars(this.form.'.$self->{name}.')" mce_editable="true" ';	
 	return $self->SUPER::toHtml.WebGUI::Asset::RichEdit->new($self->{richEditId})->getRichEditor($self->{id});
+	my $richEdit = WebGUI::Asset::RichEdit->new($self->{richEditId});
+        if ($defined) {
+                return $self->SUPER::toHtml.$richEdit->getRichEditor($self->{id});
+        } else {
+		return WebGUI::International::get('rich editor load error','Form_HTMLArea');
+	}
+
 }
 
 
diff --git a/lib/WebGUI/i18n/English/Form_HTMLArea.pm b/lib/WebGUI/i18n/English/Form_HTMLArea.pm
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d55860757
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/WebGUI/i18n/English/Form_HTMLArea.pm
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+package WebGUI::i18n::English::Form_HTMLArea;  ##Be sure to change the package name to match the filename
+
+our $I18N = { ##hashref of hashes
+	'rich editor load error' => { 
+		message => q|Can't instanciate rich editor.|,
+		lastUpdated => 0,
+		context => q|Error message letting the user know that loading the rich editor has failed for some reason.|
+	},
+
+};
+
+1;