diff --git a/mozilla/toolkit/content/widgets/checkbox.xml b/mozilla/toolkit/content/widgets/checkbox.xml
index 5fc27c12d72..3133564ca42 100644
--- a/mozilla/toolkit/content/widgets/checkbox.xml
+++ b/mozilla/toolkit/content/widgets/checkbox.xml
@@ -35,9 +35,9 @@
         <body>
         <![CDATA[
           var change = (aValue != (this.getAttribute('checked') == 'true'));
-          if (aValue) 
+          if (aValue)
             this.setAttribute('checked', 'true');
-          else 
+          else
             this.removeAttribute('checked');
           if (change) {
             var event = document.createEvent('Events');
@@ -50,15 +50,8 @@
       </method>
       
       <!-- public implementation -->
-      <property name="value"      onset="return this.checked = val;"
-                                  onget="return this.checked;"/>
       <property name="checked"    onset="return this.setChecked(val);"
                                   onget="return this.getAttribute('checked') == 'true';"/>
-
-      <constructor>
-        // Sync the checked value from the "value" attribute if necessary.
-        this.checked = this.value;
-      </constructor>
     </implementation>
     
     <handlers>
diff --git a/mozilla/toolkit/content/widgets/colorpicker.xml b/mozilla/toolkit/content/widgets/colorpicker.xml
index 551c4eedf1c..7a9451457cc 100644
--- a/mozilla/toolkit/content/widgets/colorpicker.xml
+++ b/mozilla/toolkit/content/widgets/colorpicker.xml
@@ -451,7 +451,6 @@
       </property>
     
       <property name="open" onget="return this.mOpen"/>
-      <property name="value" onget="return this.color;" onset="return (this.color = val);"/>
       <property name="color">
         <getter><![CDATA[
           return this.getAttribute("color");
diff --git a/mozilla/toolkit/content/widgets/preferences.xml b/mozilla/toolkit/content/widgets/preferences.xml
index 080f94ba98b..79b8940e365 100644
--- a/mozilla/toolkit/content/widgets/preferences.xml
+++ b/mozilla/toolkit/content/widgets/preferences.xml
@@ -336,10 +336,26 @@
             }
           }
           var val = rv !== undefined ? rv : (this.instantApply ? this.valueFromPreferences : this.value);
-          if ("value" in aElement) 
-            aElement.value = val;
-          else
-            aElement.setAttribute("value", val);
+          
+          /**
+           * Initialize a UI element property with a value. Handles the case 
+           * where an element has not yet had a XBL binding attached for it and
+           * the property setter does not yet exist by setting the same attribute
+           * on the XUL element using DOM apis and assuming the element's 
+           * constructor or property getters appropriately handle this state. 
+           */
+          function setValue(element, attribute, value) {
+            if (attribute in element) 
+              element[attribute] = value;
+            else
+              element.setAttribute(attribute, value);
+          }
+          if (aElement.localName == "checkbox")
+            setValue(aElement, "checked", val);
+          else if (aElement.localName == "colorpicker")
+            setValue(aElement, "color", val);
+          else 
+            setValue(aElement, "value", val);
         ]]>
         </body>
       </method>
@@ -363,7 +379,24 @@
               dump(e);
             }
           }
-          var value = ("value" in aElement) ? aElement.value : aElement.getAttribute("value");
+          
+          /**
+           * Read the value of an attribute from an element, assuming the 
+           * attribute is a property on the element's node API. If the property
+           * is not present in the API, then assume its value is contained in
+           * an attribute, as is the case before a binding has been attached.
+           */
+          function getValue(element, attribute) {
+            if (attribute in element)
+              return element[attribute];
+            return element.getAttribute(attribute);
+          }
+          if (aElement.localName == "checkbox")
+            var value = getValue(aElement, "checked");
+          else if (aElement.localName == "colorpicker")
+            value = getValue(aElement, "color");
+          else
+            value = getValue(aElement, "value");
 
           switch (this.type) {
           case "int":
