diff --git a/domain-server/resources/describe-settings.json b/domain-server/resources/describe-settings.json
index d923dc7bde..a2f9deccf6 100644
--- a/domain-server/resources/describe-settings.json
+++ b/domain-server/resources/describe-settings.json
@@ -48,8 +48,7 @@
         "name": "unattenuated-zone",
         "label": "Unattenuated Zone",
         "help": "Boxes for source and listener (corner x, corner y, corner z, size x, size y, size z, corner x, corner y, corner z, size x, size y, size z)",
-        "placeholder": "no zone",
-        "default": ""
+        "placeholder": "no zone"
       },
       {
         "name": "dynamic-jitter-buffer",
diff --git a/domain-server/resources/web/js/settings.js b/domain-server/resources/web/js/settings.js
index 6a97a577ca..d17c3e3af6 100644
--- a/domain-server/resources/web/js/settings.js
+++ b/domain-server/resources/web/js/settings.js
@@ -5,15 +5,18 @@ var viewHelpers = {
     setting_id = groupName + "." + setting.name
     
     form_group = "<div class='form-group'>"
-    setting_value = _.has(values, groupName) && _.has(values[groupName], setting.name) 
-        ? values[groupName][setting.name] 
-        : setting.default
-        
+    
+    if (_.has(values, groupName) && _.has(values[groupName], setting.name)) {
+      setting_value = values[groupName][setting.name] 
+    } else if (_.has(setting, 'default')) {
+      setting_value = setting.default
+    } else {
+      setting_value = ""
+    }
+    
     console.log("Value for " + setting.name + " is " + setting_value)
     
     if (setting.type === 'checkbox') {
-      
-      
       form_group += "<label class='control-label'>" + setting.label + "</label>"
       form_group += "<div class='checkbox'>"
       form_group += "<label for='" + setting_id + "'>"
@@ -21,9 +24,12 @@ var viewHelpers = {
       form_group += " " + setting.help + "</label>";
       form_group += "</div>"
     } else {
+      input_type = _.has(setting, 'type') ? setting.type : "text"
+      
       form_group += "<label for='" + setting_id + "' class='control-label'>" + setting.label + "</label>";
-      form_group += "<input type='text' class='form-control' id='" + setting_id + 
-        "' placeholder='" + setting.placeholder + "' value='" + setting_value + "'/>"
+      form_group += "<input type='" + input_type + "' class='form-control' id='" + setting_id + 
+        "' placeholder='" + (_.has(setting, 'placeholder') ? setting.placeholder : "") + 
+        "' value='" + setting_value + "'/>"
       form_group += "<span class='help-block'>" + setting.help + "</span>" 
     }
     
diff --git a/domain-server/src/DomainServerSettingsManager.cpp b/domain-server/src/DomainServerSettingsManager.cpp
index b13e8eb38c..f5f0bec2c5 100644
--- a/domain-server/src/DomainServerSettingsManager.cpp
+++ b/domain-server/src/DomainServerSettingsManager.cpp
@@ -99,7 +99,14 @@ bool DomainServerSettingsManager::handlePublicHTTPRequest(HTTPConnection* connec
                         
                         if (variantValue.isNull()) {
                             // no value for this setting, pass the default
-                            groupResponseObject[settingKey] = settingObject[SETTING_DEFAULT_KEY];
+                            if (settingObject.contains(SETTING_DEFAULT_KEY)) {
+                                groupResponseObject[settingKey] = settingObject[SETTING_DEFAULT_KEY];
+                            } else {
+                                // users are allowed not to provide a default for string values
+                                // if so we set to the empty string
+                                groupResponseObject[settingKey] = QString("");
+                            }
+                            
                         } else {
                             groupResponseObject[settingKey] = QJsonValue::fromVariant(variantValue);
                         }