diff --git a/pycsw/ogc/api/templates/items.html b/pycsw/ogc/api/templates/items.html
index a7b916781..fa9efe2c6 100644
--- a/pycsw/ogc/api/templates/items.html
+++ b/pycsw/ogc/api/templates/items.html
@@ -211,14 +211,16 @@
 function facet(val){
   location.href="{{updateurl('facets','facetprop')}}".replace('facetprop',val);
 }
+
 //if url has a bbox, enable the spatial filter 
-{% if 'bbox' in attrs.keys() and (attrs['bbox'].split('%2C')|length) == 4 %}
-var bbox = [
-          [{{ attrs['bbox'].split('%2C')[1] }}, {{ attrs['bbox'].split('%2C')[0] }}], 
-          [{{ attrs['bbox'].split('%2C')[3] }}, {{ attrs['bbox'].split('%2C')[2] }}]
-        ]
-{% else %}
-var bbox = null;
+var bbox;
+{% if 'bbox' in attrs.keys() %}
+  {% set bbox_tokens = attrs['bbox'].split('%2C') %}
+  {% if bbox_tokens|length == 4 %}
+    bbox = [[{{ 
+      bbox_tokens[1] }}, {{ bbox_tokens[0] }}], [{{ 
+      bbox_tokens[3] }}, {{ bbox_tokens[2] }}]];
+  {% endif %}
 {% endif %}
 
 //if filter enabled, apply the spatial filter