diff --git a/src/pkg/html/parse.go b/src/pkg/html/parse.go
index 041c5390ed..36a5fd2fdc 100644
--- a/src/pkg/html/parse.go
+++ b/src/pkg/html/parse.go
@@ -628,6 +628,23 @@ func copyAttributes(dst *Node, src Token) {
 func inBodyIM(p *parser) bool {
 	switch p.tok.Type {
 	case TextToken:
+		switch n := p.oe.top(); n.Data {
+		case "pre", "listing", "textarea":
+			if len(n.Child) == 0 {
+				// Ignore a newline at the start of a <pre> block.
+				d := p.tok.Data
+				if d != "" && d[0] == '\r' {
+					d = d[1:]
+				}
+				if d != "" && d[0] == '\n' {
+					d = d[1:]
+				}
+				if d == "" {
+					return true
+				}
+				p.tok.Data = d
+			}
+		}
 		p.reconstructActiveFormattingElements()
 		p.addText(p.tok.Data)
 		p.framesetOK = false
diff --git a/src/pkg/html/parse_test.go b/src/pkg/html/parse_test.go
index 90d3f46c61..cb1559169e 100644
--- a/src/pkg/html/parse_test.go
+++ b/src/pkg/html/parse_test.go
@@ -152,7 +152,7 @@ func TestParser(t *testing.T) {
 		{"doctype01.dat", -1},
 		{"tests1.dat", -1},
 		{"tests2.dat", -1},
-		{"tests3.dat", 0},
+		{"tests3.dat", 12},
 	}
 	for _, tf := range testFiles {
 		f, err := os.Open("testdata/webkit/" + tf.filename)
diff --git a/src/pkg/html/render.go b/src/pkg/html/render.go
index 57d78beef1..2c868f511d 100644
--- a/src/pkg/html/render.go
+++ b/src/pkg/html/render.go
@@ -173,6 +173,16 @@ func render1(w writer, n *Node) error {
 		return err
 	}
 
+	// Add initial newline where there is danger of a newline beging ignored.
+	if len(n.Child) > 0 && n.Child[0].Type == TextNode && strings.HasPrefix(n.Child[0].Data, "\n") {
+		switch n.Data {
+		case "pre", "listing", "textarea":
+			if err := w.WriteByte('\n'); err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
 	// Render any child nodes.
 	switch n.Data {
 	case "noembed", "noframes", "noscript", "plaintext", "script", "style":