diff --git a/app/helpers/application_helper.rb b/app/helpers/application_helper.rb
index 496b714..94f289a 100644
--- a/app/helpers/application_helper.rb
+++ b/app/helpers/application_helper.rb
@@ -7,4 +7,12 @@ def alert_class_for(flash_type)
       :notice => 'alert-info'
     }[flash_type.to_sym] || flash_type.to_s
   end
+
+  def nav_link_to(link_text, link_path)
+    class_name = current_page?(link_path) ? 'active' : nil
+    content_tag(:li, :class => class_name) do
+      link_to link_text, link_path
+    end
+  end
+
 end
diff --git a/app/views/layouts/_header.html.slim b/app/views/layouts/_header.html.slim
index acff00c..dbd04e7 100644
--- a/app/views/layouts/_header.html.slim
+++ b/app/views/layouts/_header.html.slim
@@ -6,23 +6,19 @@ nav.navbar.navbar-inverse.navbar-fixed-top role="navigation"
         span.icon-bar
         span.icon-bar
         span.icon-bar
-      a.navbar-brand href=root_path  SpacialDB
+      = link_to "SpacialDB", root_path, class: 'navbar-brand'
     #navbar.collapse.navbar-collapse
       ul.nav.navbar-nav
-        li.active
-          a href="/"  Home
-        li
-          a href="#about"  About
-        li
-          a href="#contact"  Contact
-        li
-          - if user_signed_in?
-            a href="/instances"  Instances
+        = nav_link_to "Home", root_path
+        = nav_link_to "About", "#about"
+        = nav_link_to "Contact", "#contact"
+        - if user_signed_in?
+          = nav_link_to "Instances", instances_path
       ul.nav.navbar-nav.navbar-right
         li
           - if user_signed_in?
             .navbar-text.glyphicon.glyphicon-user.no-margin-right
-            li.navbar-text signed in as #{{current_user.email}}
-            li = button_to "Sign out", destroy_user_session_path, method: :delete, class: 'btn btn-default navbar-btn'
+              li.navbar-text signed in as #{{current_user.email}}
+              li = button_to "Sign out", destroy_user_session_path, method: :delete, class: 'btn btn-default navbar-btn'
           - else
             = button_to "Sign in", new_session_path(:user), method: :get, class: 'btn btn-default navbar-btn'