diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 3e7e4f4..39a45e8 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -686,6 +686,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "chrono",
  "env_logger",
  "futures",
+ "htmlescape",
  "log",
  "mime",
  "openssl-sys",
@@ -1078,6 +1079,12 @@ dependencies = [
  "winapi 0.3.9",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "htmlescape"
+version = "0.3.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "e9025058dae765dee5070ec375f591e2ba14638c63feff74f13805a72e523163"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "http"
 version = "0.2.1"
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 0488f7c..a8a3a92 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ mime = "0.3.16"
 rand = "0.7.3"
 chrono = "0.4.13"
 openssl-sys = "*"
+htmlescape = "0.3.1"
 
 [features]
 vendored = ["openssl-sys/vendored"]
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 253525a..2cd9293 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -97,7 +97,8 @@ async fn download(
         .next()
         .await
         .map_err(|_| error::ErrorInternalServerError("could not run select statement"))?
-        .ok_or_else(|| error::ErrorNotFound("could not find file"))?;
+        .ok_or_else(|| error::ErrorNotFound("file does not exist or has expired"))?;
+
     let file_id: String = row.get("file_id");
     let file_name: String = row.get("file_name");
     let kind: String = row.get("kind");
@@ -105,15 +106,22 @@ async fn download(
     path.push(&file_id);
 
     if kind == FileKind::TEXT.to_string() {
-        let content = fs::read_to_string(path).await?;
-        let view_html = VIEW_HTML.replace("{text}", &content);
+        let content = fs::read_to_string(path).await.map_err(|_| {
+            error::ErrorInternalServerError("this file should be here but could not be found")
+        })?;
+        let encoded = htmlescape::encode_minimal(&content);
+        let view_html = VIEW_HTML.replace("{text}", &encoded);
         let response = HttpResponse::Ok().content_type("text/html").body(view_html);
         Ok(response)
     } else {
-        let file = NamedFile::open(path)?.set_content_disposition(ContentDisposition {
-            disposition: DispositionType::Attachment,
-            parameters: vec![DispositionParam::Filename(file_name)],
-        });
+        let file = NamedFile::open(path)
+            .map_err(|_| {
+                error::ErrorInternalServerError("this file should be here but could not be found")
+            })?
+            .set_content_disposition(ContentDisposition {
+                disposition: DispositionType::Attachment,
+                parameters: vec![DispositionParam::Filename(file_name)],
+            });
         file.into_response(&req)
     }
 }
@@ -121,6 +129,7 @@ async fn download(
 async fn setup_db() -> PgPool {
     let pool = PgPool::builder()
         .max_size(5)
+        .connect_timeout(std::time::Duration::from_secs(5))
         .build(&env::var("DATABASE_URL").unwrap_or_else(|_| "postgresql://localhost".to_owned()))
         .await
         .expect("could not create db pool");
@@ -153,6 +162,10 @@ async fn main() -> std::io::Result<()> {
         files_dir: PathBuf::from(env::var("FILES_DIR").unwrap_or_else(|_| "./files".to_owned())),
     };
 
+    fs::create_dir_all(&config.files_dir)
+        .await
+        .expect("could not create directory for storing files");
+
     let (send, recv) = async_std::sync::channel::<()>(1);
     task::spawn(deleter::delete_old_files(
         recv,
diff --git a/src/multipart.rs b/src/multipart.rs
index 6624195..63e7ecb 100644
--- a/src/multipart.rs
+++ b/src/multipart.rs
@@ -66,6 +66,13 @@ pub(crate) async fn parse_multipart(
         .map_err(|e| {
             error::ErrorBadRequest(format!("field validity_secs is not a number: {}", e))
         })?;
+    let max_validity_secs = Duration::days(31).num_seconds();
+    if validity_secs > max_validity_secs {
+        return Err(error::ErrorBadRequest(format!(
+            "maximum allowed validity is {} seconds, but you specified {} seconds",
+            max_validity_secs, validity_secs
+        )));
+    }
     let valid_till = Local::now() + Duration::seconds(validity_secs);
     let kind = kind.ok_or_else(|| error::ErrorBadRequest("no content found"))?;
     Ok((original_name, valid_till, kind))
diff --git a/static/index.css b/static/index.css
index 6f24b1f..f47a2ad 100644
--- a/static/index.css
+++ b/static/index.css
@@ -22,6 +22,10 @@ a:visited {
   color: mediumorchid;
 }
 
+label {
+  margin-right: 0.25em;
+}
+
 input,
 select,
 textarea {
@@ -33,6 +37,6 @@ textarea {
   margin-bottom: 1rem;
 }
 
-input[type='submit'] {
+input[type="submit"] {
   background-color: green;
 }
diff --git a/template/index.html b/template/index.html
index e09c383..0d08b09 100644
--- a/template/index.html
+++ b/template/index.html
@@ -18,8 +18,8 @@
           cols="120"
         ></textarea>
         <br />
-        Gültig für
-        <select name="validity_secs">
+        <label for="validity_secs">Gültig für</label>
+        <select id="validity_secs" name="validity_secs">
           <option value="1800">30 minuten</option>
           <option value="3600">60 minuten</option>
           <option value="43200">12 stunden</option>
diff --git a/template/upload.html b/template/upload.html
index bacfd6c..1ea3a20 100644
--- a/template/upload.html
+++ b/template/upload.html
@@ -9,9 +9,9 @@
     <main>
       <h1><a href="/">datatrash</a></h1>
       <p>
-        Uploaded
+        Datei ist verfügbar unter
         <a href="{server}/file/{id}">
-          http://localhost:8000/files/{id}
+            {server}/files/{id}
         </a>
       </p>
     </main>