diff --git a/layout/generic/nsTextFrameThebes.cpp b/layout/generic/nsTextFrameThebes.cpp
index 8eb5bfa45e8..bff14f371c0 100644
--- a/layout/generic/nsTextFrameThebes.cpp
+++ b/layout/generic/nsTextFrameThebes.cpp
@@ -1359,9 +1359,8 @@ BuildTextRunsScanner::GetNextBreakBeforeFrame(PRUint32* aIndex)
 }
 
 static PRUint32
-GetSpacingFlags(const nsStyleCoord& aStyleCoord)
+GetSpacingFlags(nscoord spacing)
 {
-  nscoord spacing = StyleToCoord(aStyleCoord);
   if (!spacing)
     return 0;
   if (spacing > 0)
@@ -1529,7 +1528,7 @@ BuildTextRunsScanner::BuildTextRunForFrames(void* aTextBuffer)
     if (NS_STYLE_TEXT_TRANSFORM_NONE != textStyle->mTextTransform) {
       anyTextTransformStyle = PR_TRUE;
     }
-    textFlags |= GetSpacingFlags(textStyle->mLetterSpacing);
+    textFlags |= GetSpacingFlags(StyleToCoord(textStyle->mLetterSpacing));
     textFlags |= GetSpacingFlags(textStyle->mWordSpacing);
     nsTextFrameUtils::CompressionMode compression =
       CSSWhitespaceToCompressionMode[textStyle->mWhiteSpace];
@@ -2140,7 +2139,7 @@ public:
       mLineContainer(aLineContainer),
       mFrame(aFrame), mStart(aStart), mTempIterator(aStart),
       mTabWidths(nsnull), mLength(aLength),
-      mWordSpacing(StyleToCoord(mTextStyle->mWordSpacing)),
+      mWordSpacing(mTextStyle->mWordSpacing),
       mLetterSpacing(StyleToCoord(mTextStyle->mLetterSpacing)),
       mJustificationSpacing(0),
       mHyphenWidth(-1),
@@ -2163,7 +2162,7 @@ public:
       mFrame(aFrame), mStart(aStart), mTempIterator(aStart),
       mTabWidths(nsnull),
       mLength(aFrame->GetContentLength()),
-      mWordSpacing(StyleToCoord(mTextStyle->mWordSpacing)),
+      mWordSpacing(mTextStyle->mWordSpacing),
       mLetterSpacing(StyleToCoord(mTextStyle->mLetterSpacing)),
       mJustificationSpacing(0),
       mHyphenWidth(-1),
diff --git a/layout/style/nsComputedDOMStyle.cpp b/layout/style/nsComputedDOMStyle.cpp
index 77d0a507471..fb58a293afa 100644
--- a/layout/style/nsComputedDOMStyle.cpp
+++ b/layout/style/nsComputedDOMStyle.cpp
@@ -2129,7 +2129,7 @@ nsComputedDOMStyle::GetWordSpacing(nsIDOMCSSValue** aValue)
   nsROCSSPrimitiveValue *val = GetROCSSPrimitiveValue();
   NS_ENSURE_TRUE(val, NS_ERROR_OUT_OF_MEMORY);
 
-  SetValueToCoord(val, GetStyleText()->mWordSpacing);
+  val->SetAppUnits(GetStyleText()->mWordSpacing);
 
   return CallQueryInterface(val, aValue);
 }
diff --git a/layout/style/nsRuleNode.cpp b/layout/style/nsRuleNode.cpp
index acdb6fe2610..7403e994a53 100644
--- a/layout/style/nsRuleNode.cpp
+++ b/layout/style/nsRuleNode.cpp
@@ -3006,9 +3006,22 @@ nsRuleNode::ComputeTextData(void* aStartStruct,
               NS_STYLE_WHITESPACE_NORMAL, 0);
  
   // word-spacing: normal, length, inherit
-  SetCoord(textData.mWordSpacing, text->mWordSpacing, parentText->mWordSpacing,
-           SETCOORD_LH | SETCOORD_NORMAL | SETCOORD_INITIAL_NORMAL,
-           aContext, mPresContext, inherited);
+  nsStyleCoord tempCoord;
+  if (SetCoord(textData.mWordSpacing, tempCoord,
+               nsStyleCoord(parentText->mWordSpacing),
+               SETCOORD_LH | SETCOORD_NORMAL | SETCOORD_INITIAL_NORMAL,
+               aContext, mPresContext, inherited)) {
+    if (tempCoord.GetUnit() == eStyleUnit_Coord) {
+      text->mWordSpacing = tempCoord.GetCoordValue();
+    } else if (tempCoord.GetUnit() == eStyleUnit_Normal) {
+      text->mWordSpacing = 0;
+    } else {
+      NS_NOTREACHED("unexpected unit");
+    }
+  } else {
+    NS_ASSERTION(textData.mWordSpacing.GetUnit() == eCSSUnit_Null,
+                 "unexpected unit");
+  }
 
   // word-wrap: enum, normal, inherit, initial
   SetDiscrete(textData.mWordWrap, text->mWordWrap, inherited,
diff --git a/layout/style/nsStyleContext.cpp b/layout/style/nsStyleContext.cpp
index 508e4cf9d32..32b676b9f21 100644
--- a/layout/style/nsStyleContext.cpp
+++ b/layout/style/nsStyleContext.cpp
@@ -707,9 +707,8 @@ void nsStyleContext::DumpRegressionData(nsPresContext* aPresContext, FILE* out,
   text->mLineHeight.ToString(str);
   fprintf(out, "%s ", NS_ConvertUTF16toUTF8(str).get());
   text->mTextIndent.ToString(str);
-  fprintf(out, "%s ", NS_ConvertUTF16toUTF8(str).get());
-  text->mWordSpacing.ToString(str);
-  fprintf(out, "%s ", NS_ConvertUTF16toUTF8(str).get());
+  fprintf(out, "%s %d", NS_ConvertUTF16toUTF8(str).get(),
+                        (int)text->mWordSpacing);
   fprintf(out, "\" />\n");
   
   // TEXT RESET
diff --git a/layout/style/nsStyleStruct.cpp b/layout/style/nsStyleStruct.cpp
index 92bbee1e4d3..7a07397e059 100644
--- a/layout/style/nsStyleStruct.cpp
+++ b/layout/style/nsStyleStruct.cpp
@@ -1786,7 +1786,7 @@ nsStyleText::nsStyleText(void)
   mLetterSpacing.SetNormalValue();
   mLineHeight.SetNormalValue();
   mTextIndent.SetCoordValue(0);
-  mWordSpacing.SetNormalValue();
+  mWordSpacing = 0;
 
   mTextShadow = nsnull;
 }
diff --git a/layout/style/nsStyleStruct.h b/layout/style/nsStyleStruct.h
index a78ae8cbf11..ceb9a041f37 100644
--- a/layout/style/nsStyleStruct.h
+++ b/layout/style/nsStyleStruct.h
@@ -787,7 +787,7 @@ struct nsStyleText {
   nsStyleCoord  mLetterSpacing;         // [inherited] coord, normal
   nsStyleCoord  mLineHeight;            // [inherited] coord, factor, normal
   nsStyleCoord  mTextIndent;            // [inherited] coord, percent
-  nsStyleCoord  mWordSpacing;           // [inherited] coord, normal
+  nscoord mWordSpacing;                 // [inherited]
 
   nsRefPtr<nsCSSShadowArray> mTextShadow; // [inherited] NULL in case of a zero-length
   
diff --git a/layout/style/test/test_value_computation.html b/layout/style/test/test_value_computation.html
index 9f871c69f54..20b949ec77c 100644
--- a/layout/style/test/test_value_computation.html
+++ b/layout/style/test/test_value_computation.html
@@ -49,9 +49,6 @@ var gBadComputed = {
   // The 'medium' keyword should be computing to '3px', not 'medium'.
   "outline-width": [ "3px" ],
 
-  // 'normal' should compute to 0
-  "word-spacing": [ "0", "0px", "-0em" ],
-
   // These values are treated as auto.
   "page-break-after": [ "avoid" ],
   "page-break-before": [ "avoid" ],