diff --git a/lib/capybara/driver/rack_test_driver.rb b/lib/capybara/driver/rack_test_driver.rb
index e493d7bcf..bb09f8801 100644
--- a/lib/capybara/driver/rack_test_driver.rb
+++ b/lib/capybara/driver/rack_test_driver.rb
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+require 'capybara/util/string'
 require 'rack/test'
 require 'rack/utils'
 require 'mime/types'
@@ -11,28 +12,11 @@ def text
     end
 
     def [](name)
-      attr_name = name.to_s
-      case
-      when 'select' == tag_name && 'value' == attr_name
-        if native['multiple'] == 'multiple'
-          native.xpath(".//option[@selected='selected']").map { |option| option[:value] || option.content  }
-        else
-          option = native.xpath(".//option[@selected='selected']").first || native.xpath(".//option").first
-          option[:value] || option.content if option
-        end
-      when 'input' == tag_name && 'checkbox' == type && 'checked' == attr_name
-        native[attr_name] == 'checked' ? true : false
-      else
-        native[attr_name]
-      end
+      string_node[name]
     end
 
     def value
-      if tag_name == 'textarea'
-        native.content
-      else
-        self[:value]
-      end
+      string_node.value
     end
 
     def set(value)
@@ -82,7 +66,7 @@ def tag_name
     end
 
     def visible?
-      native.xpath("./ancestor-or-self::*[contains(@style, 'display:none') or contains(@style, 'display: none')]").size == 0
+      string_node.visible?
     end
 
     def path
@@ -95,6 +79,10 @@ def find(locator)
 
   private
 
+    def string_node
+      @string_node ||= Capybara::StringNode.new(native)
+    end
+
     # a reference to the select node if this is an option node
     def select_node
       find('./ancestor::select').first
diff --git a/lib/capybara/node.rb b/lib/capybara/node.rb
index b1f2c6688..4fce649c8 100644
--- a/lib/capybara/node.rb
+++ b/lib/capybara/node.rb
@@ -38,6 +38,10 @@ def initialize(session, base)
 
   protected
 
+    def wait?
+      driver.wait?
+    end
+
     def driver
       session.driver
     end
diff --git a/lib/capybara/node/finders.rb b/lib/capybara/node/finders.rb
index 32e30979c..99f32a542 100644
--- a/lib/capybara/node/finders.rb
+++ b/lib/capybara/node/finders.rb
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ def all(*args)
         options = if args.last.is_a?(Hash) then args.pop else {} end
 
         results = Capybara::Selector.normalize(*args).map do |path|
-          base.find(path)
+          find_in_base(path)
         end.flatten
 
         if text = options[:text]
@@ -127,13 +127,21 @@ def all(*args)
           results = results.select { |node| node.visible? }
         end
 
-        results.map { |n| Capybara::Element.new(session, n) }
+        convert_elements(results)
       end
 
     protected
 
+      def find_in_base(xpath)
+        base.find(xpath)
+      end
+
+      def convert_elements(elements)
+        elements.map { |element| Capybara::Element.new(session, element) }
+      end
+
       def wait_conditionally_until
-        if driver.wait? then session.wait_until { yield } else yield end
+        if wait? then session.wait_until { yield } else yield end
       end
 
     end
diff --git a/lib/capybara/util/string.rb b/lib/capybara/util/string.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2a05ac63a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/capybara/util/string.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+module Capybara
+  def self.string(html)
+    StringNode.new(Nokogiri::HTML(html))
+  end
+
+  class StringNode
+    include Capybara::Node::Finders
+    include Capybara::Node::Matchers
+
+    attr_reader :native
+
+    def initialize(native)
+      @native = native
+    end
+
+    def text
+      native.text
+    end
+
+    def [](name)
+      attr_name = name.to_s
+      if attr_name == 'value'
+        value
+      elsif 'input' == tag_name and 'checkbox' == native[:type] and 'checked' == attr_name
+        native['checked'] == 'checked'
+      else
+        native[attr_name]
+      end
+    end
+
+    def tag_name
+      native.node_name
+    end
+
+    def path
+      native.path
+    end
+
+    def value
+      if tag_name == 'textarea'
+        native.content
+      elsif tag_name == 'select'
+        if native['multiple'] == 'multiple'
+          native.xpath(".//option[@selected='selected']").map { |option| option[:value] || option.content  }
+        else
+          option = native.xpath(".//option[@selected='selected']").first || native.xpath(".//option").first
+          option[:value] || option.content if option
+        end
+      else
+        native[:value]
+      end
+    end
+
+    def visible?
+      native.xpath("./ancestor-or-self::*[contains(@style, 'display:none') or contains(@style, 'display: none')]").size == 0
+    end
+
+  protected
+
+    def find_in_base(xpath)
+      native.xpath(xpath).map { |node| StringNode.new(node) }
+    end
+
+    def convert_elements(elements)
+      elements
+    end
+
+    def wait?
+      false
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/spec/util/string_spec.rb b/spec/util/string_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f259d65ae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/util/string_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+require 'spec_helper'
+require 'capybara/util/string'
+
+describe Capybara do
+  describe '.string' do
+    let :string do
+      Capybara.string <<-STRING
+        <div id="page">
+          <div id="content">
+            <h1 data="fantastic">Awesome</h1>
+            <p>Yes it is</p>
+          </div>
+
+          <div id="footer" style="display: none">
+            <p>c2010</p>
+            <p>Jonas Nicklas</p>
+            <input type="text" name="foo" value="bar"/>
+            <select name="animal">
+              <option>Monkey</option>
+              <option selected="selected">Capybara</option>
+            </select>
+          </div>
+        </div>
+      STRING
+    end
+
+    it "allows using matchers" do
+      string.should have_css('#page')
+      string.should_not have_css('#does-not-exist')
+    end
+
+    it "allows using custom matchers" do
+      Capybara.add_selector :lifeform do
+        xpath { |name| "//option[contains(.,'#{name}')]" }
+      end
+      string.should have_selector(:page)
+      string.should_not have_selector(:'does-not-exist')
+      string.should have_selector(:lifeform, "Monkey")
+      string.should_not have_selector(:lifeform, "Gorilla")
+    end
+
+    it "allows using matchers with text option" do
+      string.should have_css('h1', :text => 'Awesome')
+      string.should_not have_css('h1', :text => 'Not so awesome')
+    end
+
+    it "allows finding only visible nodes" do
+      string.all('//p', :text => 'c2010', :visible => true).should be_empty
+      string.all('//p', :text => 'c2010', :visible => false).should have(1).element
+    end
+
+    it "allows finding elements and extracting text from them" do
+      string.find('//h1').text.should == 'Awesome'
+    end
+
+    it "allows finding elements and extracting attributes from them" do
+      string.find('//h1')[:data].should == 'fantastic'
+    end
+
+    it "allows finding elements and extracting the tag name from them" do
+      string.find('//h1').tag_name.should == 'h1'
+    end
+
+    it "allows finding elements and extracting the path" do
+      string.find('//h1').path.should == '/html/body/div/div[1]/h1'
+    end
+
+    it "allows finding elements and extracting the path" do
+      string.find('//input').value.should == 'bar'
+      string.find('//select').value.should == 'Capybara'
+    end
+
+    it "allows finding elements and checking if they are visible" do
+      string.find('//h1').should be_visible
+      string.find('//input').should_not be_visible
+    end
+  end
+end