diff --git a/web/templates/entry_view.html b/web/templates/entry_view.html
index bc0a06a..379ca6b 100644
--- a/web/templates/entry_view.html
+++ b/web/templates/entry_view.html
@@ -467,11 +467,10 @@ function showToast(message, duration = 3000) {
 }
 </script>
 
-<!-- Highlighter: robust triggers (DOMContentLoaded + pageshow + readyState) -->
+<!-- Highlighter: wait until search data is present -->
 <script>
 (function(){
-  // EXACT field -> selector mapping for your template IDs
-  const fieldToSelector = {
+  const FIELD_TO_SELECTOR = {
     subject:       "#subject-list",
     illustration:  "#illustration-text",
     application:   "#application-text",
@@ -481,31 +480,11 @@ function showToast(message, duration = 3000) {
     talk_number:   "#talk_title-text",
   };
 
-  // Kickoff with multiple safety nets so it also runs after bfcache restores
-  if (document.readyState === "complete" || document.readyState === "interactive") {
-    run();
-  } else {
-    document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", run, { once: true });
-  }
-  // pageshow fires on bfcache restores and some soft navigations
-  window.addEventListener("pageshow", run);
-
-  async function run() {
-    // Respect per-user toggle
-    let enabled = true;
-    try {
-      const res = await fetch("/api/get-prefs/");
-      const prefs = await res.json();
-      if (prefs && typeof prefs.highlight_search_hits !== "undefined") {
-        enabled = !!prefs.highlight_search_hits;
-      }
-    } catch (_) {}
-    if (!enabled) return;
-
-    // Read last search (prefer JS-literal fallback, then JSON blob)
+  let tried = 0;
+  function tryRun() {
+    tried++;
     let q = (window.__lastSearchQ || "").trim();
     let fields = Array.isArray(window.__lastSearchFields) ? window.__lastSearchFields : [];
-
     if ((!q || !fields.length)) {
       const dataEl = document.getElementById("last-search-data");
       if (dataEl) {
@@ -516,15 +495,36 @@ function showToast(message, duration = 3000) {
         } catch (_) {}
       }
     }
-    if (!q || !fields.length) return;
 
-    // Tokenize like your search (keep quoted phrases, strip * and ?)
+    if (q && fields.length) {
+      highlight(q, fields);
+      return true;
+    }
+    if (tried < 20) { // retry up to ~2s
+      setTimeout(tryRun, 100);
+    }
+    return false;
+  }
+
+  async function highlight(q, fields) {
+    // Respect per-user toggle
+    let enabled = true;
+    try {
+      const res = await fetch("/api/get-prefs/", { cache:"no-store", credentials:"same-origin" });
+      if (res.ok) {
+        const prefs = await res.json();
+        if (prefs && typeof prefs.highlight_search_hits !== "undefined") {
+          enabled = !!prefs.highlight_search_hits;
+        }
+      }
+    } catch(_) {}
+    if (!enabled) return;
+
     const tokens = tokenize(q).map(t => t.replaceAll("*","").replaceAll("?","")).filter(Boolean);
     if (!tokens.length) return;
 
-    // Highlight only within fields that were searched
     for (const f of fields) {
-      const sel = fieldToSelector[f];
+      const sel = FIELD_TO_SELECTOR[f];
       if (!sel) continue;
       const container = document.querySelector(sel);
       if (!container) continue;
@@ -532,7 +532,7 @@ function showToast(message, duration = 3000) {
     }
   }
 
-  // ---- helpers ----
+  // helpers
   function tokenize(s) {
     const out = [];
     let i = 0, buf = "", inQ = false;
@@ -558,9 +558,14 @@ function showToast(message, duration = 3000) {
   function highlightAll(root, needle) {
     if (!needle) return;
     const re = new RegExp(escapeRegExp(needle), "gi");
-    walkTextNodes(root, (textNode) => {
+    const nodes = [];
+    const walker = document.createTreeWalker(root, NodeFilter.SHOW_TEXT, null, false);
+    while (walker.nextNode()) nodes.push(walker.currentNode);
+
+    for (const textNode of nodes) {
       const text = textNode.nodeValue;
-      if (!re.test(text)) return;
+      if (!text || !re.test(text)) continue;
+
       const frag = document.createDocumentFragment();
       let lastIndex = 0;
       text.replace(re, (m, idx) => {
@@ -573,35 +578,16 @@ function showToast(message, duration = 3000) {
         return m;
       });
       if (lastIndex < text.length) frag.appendChild(document.createTextNode(text.slice(lastIndex)));
-      textNode.parentNode.replaceChild(frag, textNode);
-    });
+
+      if (textNode.parentNode) textNode.parentNode.replaceChild(frag, textNode);
+    }
   }
 
-  function walkTextNodes(node, cb) {
-    const walker = document.createTreeWalker(node, NodeFilter.SHOW_TEXT, null, false);
-    const nodes = [];
-    while (walker.nextNode()) nodes.push(walker.currentNode);
-    nodes.forEach(cb);
-  }
+  // start
+  tryRun();
 })();
 </script>
 
-<!-- DEBUG: prove scripts run on load -->
-<script>
-(function(){
-  // 1) blatant visual badge
-  const badge = document.createElement('div');
-  badge.textContent = 'HL script loaded';
-  badge.style.cssText = 'position:fixed;bottom:8px;right:8px;background:#111;color:#fff;padding:6px 10px;border-radius:6px;font:12px system-ui;z-index:99999;opacity:.85';
-  document.body.appendChild(badge);
-  setTimeout(()=>badge.remove(), 1500);
-
-  // 2) console beacons for all relevant lifecycle events
-  console.log('[HL] inline script evaluated. readyState=', document.readyState);
-  document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', () => console.log('[HL] DOMContentLoaded'));
-  window.addEventListener('pageshow', (e) => console.log('[HL] pageshow (bfcache=', e.persisted, ')'));
-})();
-</script>
 
 
 {% endblock %}