diff --git a/css/area_main-sidebar.less b/css/area_main-sidebar.less
index ba9f779..52a03b0 100755
--- a/css/area_main-sidebar.less
+++ b/css/area_main-sidebar.less
@@ -35,10 +35,12 @@
                 margin-right: @margin-small;
                 color: @color-nav;
 
-                img {
+                svg {
                     width: @icon-size;
                     height: @icon-size;
-                    filter: grayscale(100%); //fixme maybe we could find a better way
+                    path {
+                        fill: @color-nav;
+                    }
                 }
             }
 
@@ -50,8 +52,8 @@
                 color: @button_background;
                 text-decoration: none;
 
-                span img {
-                    filter: none;
+                span svg path {
+                    fill: @button_background;
                 }
             }
         }
diff --git a/js/sidebar.js b/js/sidebar.js
index 16b9232..9279c1e 100644
--- a/js/sidebar.js
+++ b/js/sidebar.js
@@ -17,11 +17,7 @@ jQuery(function () {
             .text(text.substr(0, 1).toUpperCase() + text.substr(1, 1).toLowerCase());
         if (data[1]) {
             const src = data[1].trim();
-            const $svg = jQuery('<img>');
-            $svg.attr('src', DOKU_BASE + 'lib/tpl/sprintdoc/svg.php?svg='+src+'&f=__link__');
-            $svg.on('load', function () {
-                $icon.html($svg);
-            });
+            $icon.load(DOKU_BASE + 'lib/tpl/sprintdoc/svg.php?svg=' + src + '&e=1'); // directly embed
         }
 
         // make the new toggler
diff --git a/svg.php b/svg.php
index e2f8db9..f1c5d0a 100644
--- a/svg.php
+++ b/svg.php
@@ -129,12 +129,17 @@ class SVG {
         $params = $this->getParameters();
 
         header('Content-Type: image/svg+xml');
-        $cachekey = md5($file . serialize($params));
+        $cachekey = md5($file . serialize($params) . filemtime(__FILE__));
         $cache = new \cache($cachekey, '.svg');
         $cache->_event = 'SVG_CACHE';
 
         http_cached($cache->cache, $cache->useCache(array('files' => array($file, __FILE__))));
-        http_cached_finish($cache->cache, $this->generateSVG($file, $params));
+        if($params['e']) {
+            $content = $this->embedSVG($file);
+        } else {
+            $content = $this->generateSVG($file, $params);
+        }
+        http_cached_finish($cache->cache, $content);
     }
 
     /**
@@ -154,6 +159,26 @@ class SVG {
         return $xml->asXML();
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Return the absolute minimum path definition for direct embedding
+     *
+     * No styles will be applied. They have to be done in CSS
+     *
+     * @param string $file the SVG file to load
+     * @return string the new XML contents
+     */
+    protected function embedSVG($file) {
+        /** @var SvgNode $xml */
+        $xml = simplexml_load_file($file, SvgNode::class);
+
+        $def = hsc((string) $xml->path['d']);
+        $w = hsc($xml['width']);
+        $h = hsc($xml['height']);
+        $v = hsc($xml['viewBox']);
+
+        return "<svg width=\"$w\" height=\"$h\" viewBox=\"$v\"><path d=\"$def\" /></svg>";
+    }
+
     /**
      * Get the supported parameters from request
      *
@@ -163,6 +188,7 @@ class SVG {
         global $INPUT;
 
         $params = array(
+            'e' => $INPUT->bool('e', false),
             's' => $this->fixColor($INPUT->str('s')),
             'f' => $this->fixColor($INPUT->str('f')),
             'b' => $this->fixColor($INPUT->str('b')),
@@ -299,3 +325,4 @@ class SVG {
 $svg = new SVG();
 $svg->out();
 
+