diff --git a/setup/resources.py b/setup/resources.py
index 0a492e3117..c0bf9b718f 100644
--- a/setup/resources.py
+++ b/setup/resources.py
@@ -283,11 +283,12 @@ class RapydScript(Command):  # {{{
                 help='Only compile the specified module')
 
     def run(self, opts):
-        from calibre.utils.rapydscript import compile_srv, compile_editor
+        from calibre.utils.rapydscript import compile_srv, compile_editor, compile_viewer
         if opts.only_module:
             locals()['compile_' + opts.only_module]()
         else:
             compile_editor()
+            compile_viewer()
             compile_srv()
 # }}}
 
diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/viewer2/web_view.py b/src/calibre/gui2/viewer2/web_view.py
index 9d6fbe6e86..7c0129da95 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/viewer2/web_view.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/viewer2/web_view.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function, unicode_litera
 
 import os
 
-from PyQt5.Qt import QApplication, QBuffer, QByteArray, QSize
+from PyQt5.Qt import QApplication, QBuffer, QByteArray, QSize, QUrl
 from PyQt5.QtWebEngineCore import QWebEngineUrlSchemeHandler
 from PyQt5.QtWebEngineWidgets import (
     QWebEnginePage, QWebEngineProfile, QWebEngineScript
@@ -107,15 +107,10 @@ def create_profile():
         ua = 'calibre-viewer ' + __version__
         ans.setHttpUserAgent(ua)
         if is_running_from_develop:
-            from calibre.utils.rapydscript import compile_editor
-            compile_editor()
-        js = P('editor.js', data=True, allow_user_override=False)
-        cparser = P('csscolorparser.js', data=True, allow_user_override=False)
-
-        insert_scripts(ans,
-            create_script('csscolorparser.js', cparser),
-            create_script('editor.js', js),
-        )
+            from calibre.utils.rapydscript import compile_viewer
+            compile_viewer()
+        js = P('viewer.js', data=True, allow_user_override=False)
+        insert_scripts(ans, create_script('viewer.js', js))
         url_handler = UrlSchemeHandler(ans)
         ans.installUrlSchemeHandler(QByteArray(FAKE_PROTOCOL.encode('ascii')), url_handler)
         s = ans.settings()
@@ -177,6 +172,7 @@ class WebView(RestartingWebEngineView):
         self._page = WebPage(self)
         self.setPage(self._page)
         self.setAcceptDrops(False)
+        self.clear()
 
     def render_process_died(self):
         if self.dead_renderer_error_shown:
@@ -191,3 +187,6 @@ class WebView(RestartingWebEngineView):
 
     def refresh(self):
         self.pageAction(QWebEnginePage.Reload).trigger()
+
+    def clear(self):
+        self.setHtml('<p>&nbsp;', QUrl('{}://{}/'.format(FAKE_PROTOCOL, FAKE_HOST)))
diff --git a/src/calibre/utils/rapydscript.py b/src/calibre/utils/rapydscript.py
index f3c6ca0a53..a5df1cf63c 100644
--- a/src/calibre/utils/rapydscript.py
+++ b/src/calibre/utils/rapydscript.py
@@ -221,6 +221,16 @@ def compile_editor():
     atomic_write(base, 'editor.js', js)
 
 
+def compile_viewer():
+    base = base_dir()
+    rapydscript_dir = os.path.join(base, 'src', 'pyj')
+    fname = os.path.join(rapydscript_dir, 'viewer-main.pyj')
+    with lopen(fname, 'rb') as f:
+        js = compile_fast(f.read(), fname, js_version=6).replace('__SPECIAL_TITLE__', special_title, 1)
+    base = os.path.join(base, 'resources')
+    atomic_write(base, 'viewer.js', js)
+
+
 def compile_srv():
     base = base_dir()
     iconf = os.path.join(base, 'imgsrc', 'srv', 'generate.py')
diff --git a/src/pyj/viewer-main.pyj b/src/pyj/viewer-main.pyj
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5d277a5e3a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/pyj/viewer-main.pyj
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+# vim:fileencoding=utf-8
+# License: GPL v3 Copyright: 2018, Kovid Goyal <kovid at kovidgoyal.net>
+from __python__ import bound_methods, hash_literals
+
+print('11111111111111', document.location.href)