diff --git a/app/views/home/show.html.haml b/app/views/home/show.html.haml
index 6bf40d58b..6cb05994b 100644
--- a/app/views/home/show.html.haml
+++ b/app/views/home/show.html.haml
@@ -4,4 +4,8 @@
 
 - content_for :page_title do
   DIASPORA* ALPHA
-=render :partial => 'home/show' rescue  "put something in app/views/home/_show.html.haml"
+- begin
+  = render :partial => 'home/show' 
+- rescue
+  :erb
+    <%= File.open(File.join(Rails.root, 'public/default.html')).read %>
diff --git a/public/default.html b/public/default.html
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7f63096ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/public/default.html
@@ -0,0 +1,243 @@
+<!DOCTYPE html>
+<html>
+  <head>
+    <title>Ruby on Rails: Welcome aboard</title>
+    <style type="text/css" media="screen">
+      body {
+        margin: 0;
+        margin-bottom: 25px;
+        margin-top: 2em;
+        padding: 0;
+        background-color: #f0f0f0;
+        font-family: "Lucida Grande", "Bitstream Vera Sans", "Verdana";
+        font-size: 13px;
+        color: #333;
+      }
+
+      h1 {
+        font-size: 28px;
+        color: #000;
+      }
+
+      a  {color: #03c}
+      a:hover {
+        background-color: #03c;
+        color: white;
+        text-decoration: none;
+      }
+
+
+      #page {
+        background-color: #f0f0f0;
+        width: 750px;
+        margin: 0;
+        margin-left: auto;
+        margin-right: auto;
+      }
+
+      #content {
+        float: left;
+        background-color: white;
+        border: 3px solid #aaa;
+        border-top: none;
+        padding: 25px;
+        width: 500px;
+      }
+
+      #sidebar {
+        float: right;
+        width: 175px;
+      }
+
+      #footer {
+        clear: both;
+      }
+
+
+      #header, #about, #getting-started {
+        padding-left: 75px;
+        padding-right: 30px;
+      }
+
+
+      #header {
+        background-image: url("images/rails.png");
+        background-repeat: no-repeat;
+        background-position: top left;
+        height: 64px;
+      }
+      #header h1, #header h2 {margin: 0}
+      #header h2 {
+        color: #888;
+        font-weight: normal;
+        font-size: 16px;
+      }
+
+
+      #about h3 {
+        margin: 0;
+        margin-bottom: 10px;
+        font-size: 14px;
+      }
+
+      #about-content {
+        background-color: #ffd;
+        border: 1px solid #fc0;
+        margin-left: -55px;
+        margin-right: -10px;
+      }
+      #about-content table {
+        margin-top: 10px;
+        margin-bottom: 10px;
+        font-size: 11px;
+        border-collapse: collapse;
+      }
+      #about-content td {
+        padding: 10px;
+        padding-top: 3px;
+        padding-bottom: 3px;
+      }
+      #about-content td.name  {color: #555}
+      #about-content td.value {color: #000}
+
+      #about-content ul {
+        padding: 0;
+        list-style-type: none;
+      }
+
+      #about-content.failure {
+        background-color: #fcc;
+        border: 1px solid #f00;
+      }
+      #about-content.failure p {
+        margin: 0;
+        padding: 10px;
+      }
+
+
+      #getting-started {
+        border-top: 1px solid #ccc;
+        margin-top: 25px;
+        padding-top: 15px;
+      }
+      #getting-started h1 {
+        margin: 0;
+        font-size: 20px;
+      }
+      #getting-started h2 {
+        margin: 0;
+        font-size: 14px;
+        font-weight: normal;
+        color: #333;
+        margin-bottom: 25px;
+      }
+      #getting-started ol {
+        margin-left: 0;
+        padding-left: 0;
+      }
+      #getting-started li {
+        font-size: 18px;
+        color: #888;
+        margin-bottom: 25px;
+      }
+      #getting-started li h2 {
+        margin: 0;
+        font-weight: normal;
+        font-size: 18px;
+        color: #333;
+      }
+      #getting-started li p {
+        color: #555;
+        font-size: 13px;
+      }
+
+
+      #sidebar ul {
+        margin-left: 0;
+        padding-left: 0;
+      }
+      #sidebar ul h3 {
+        margin-top: 25px;
+        font-size: 16px;
+        padding-bottom: 10px;
+        border-bottom: 1px solid #ccc;
+      }
+      #sidebar li {
+        list-style-type: none;
+      }
+      #sidebar ul.links li {
+        margin-bottom: 5px;
+      }
+
+    </style>
+    <script type="text/javascript">
+      function about() {
+        info = document.getElementById('about-content');
+        if (window.XMLHttpRequest)
+          { xhr = new XMLHttpRequest(); }
+        else
+          { xhr = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP"); }
+        xhr.open("GET","rails/info/properties",false);
+        xhr.send("");
+        info.innerHTML = xhr.responseText;
+        info.style.display = 'block'
+      }
+    </script>
+  </head>
+  <body>
+    <div id="page">
+      <div id="sidebar">
+        <ul id="sidebar-items">
+          <li>
+            <h3>Browse the documentation</h3>
+            <ul class="links">
+              <li><a href="http://github.com/diaspora/diaspora/">Diaspora Github</a></li>
+              <li><a href="http://github.com/diaspora/diaspora/wiki">Diaspora Wiki</a></li>
+              <li><a href="http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=diaspora-dev">Diaspora IRC</a></li>
+              <li><a href="http://bugs.joindiaspora.com/">Diaspora Bug Tracker</a></li>
+              <li><a href="http://groups.google.com/group/diaspora-dev">Dev Mailing List</a></li>
+              <li><a href="http://getsatisfaction.com/diaspora/">Get Satisfaction</a></li>
+              <li><a href="http://guides.rubyonrails.org/">Learn more about Ruby On Rails!</a></li>
+            </ul>
+          </li>
+        </ul>
+      </div>
+
+      <div id="content">
+        <div id="header">
+          <h1>Looking Good!</h1>
+          <h2>Welcome to Diaspora!</h2>
+        </div>
+
+        <div id="about">
+          <h3><a href="rails/info/properties" onclick="about(); return false">About your seed&rsquo;s environment</a></h3>
+          <div id="about-content" style="display: none"></div>
+        </div>
+
+        <div id="getting-started">
+          <h1>Getting started</h1>
+          <h2>Here&rsquo;s how to get rolling:</h2>
+
+          <ol>
+            <li>
+              <h2>check all of your settings!</h2>
+              <p>look at config/app_config.yml.example for help</p>
+            </li>
+
+            <li>
+              <h2>Make a new user!</h2>
+              <p>click on login link to make it happen</p>
+            </li>
+
+            <li>
+              <h2>Tell us what you think!</h2>
+              <p>make bug reports, feature requests at: <a href='bugs.joindiaspora.com'>our bug tracker </a></p>
+            </li>
+          </ol>
+        </div>
+      </div>
+
+      <div id="footer">&nbsp;</div>
+    </div>
+  </body>
+</html>
