diff --git a/searx/settings.yml b/searx/settings.yml
index 580e4f111..d9426033e 100644
--- a/searx/settings.yml
+++ b/searx/settings.yml
@@ -16,7 +16,8 @@ server:
     http_protocol_version : "1.0"  # 1.0 and 1.1 are supported
 
 ui:
-    themes_path : "" # Custom ui themes path - leave it blank if you didn't change
+    static_path : "" # Custom static path - leave it blank if you didn't change
+    templates_path : "" # Custom templates path - leave it blank if you didn't change
     default_theme : oscar # ui theme
     default_locale : "" # Default interface locale - leave blank to detect from browser information or use codes from the 'locales' config section
 
diff --git a/searx/settings_robot.yml b/searx/settings_robot.yml
index 59320480c..070a0edb6 100644
--- a/searx/settings_robot.yml
+++ b/searx/settings_robot.yml
@@ -16,7 +16,8 @@ server:
     http_protocol_version : "1.0"
 
 ui:
-    themes_path : ""
+    static_path : ""
+    templates_path : ""
     default_theme : oscar
     default_locale : ""
 
diff --git a/searx/utils.py b/searx/utils.py
index f24c57afa..9a08197cc 100644
--- a/searx/utils.py
+++ b/searx/utils.py
@@ -178,37 +178,39 @@ class UnicodeWriter:
             self.writerow(row)
 
 
-def get_themes(root):
+def get_resources_directory(searx_directory, subdirectory, resources_directory):
+    if not resources_directory:
+        resources_directory = os.path.join(searx_directory, subdirectory)
+    if not os.path.isdir(resources_directory):
+        raise Exception(directory + " is not a directory")
+    return resources_directory
+
+
+def get_themes(static_path):
     """Returns available themes list."""
-
-    static_path = os.path.join(root, 'static')
-    templates_path = os.path.join(root, 'templates')
-
     themes = os.listdir(os.path.join(static_path, 'themes'))
     if '__common__' in themes:
         themes.remove('__common__')
-    return static_path, templates_path, themes
+    return themes
 
 
-def get_static_files(base_path):
-    base_path = os.path.join(base_path, 'static')
+def get_static_files(static_path):
     static_files = set()
-    base_path_length = len(base_path) + 1
-    for directory, _, files in os.walk(base_path):
+    static_path_length = len(static_path) + 1
+    for directory, _, files in os.walk(static_path):
         for filename in files:
-            f = os.path.join(directory[base_path_length:], filename)
+            f = os.path.join(directory[static_path_length:], filename)
             static_files.add(f)
     return static_files
 
 
-def get_result_templates(base_path):
-    base_path = os.path.join(base_path, 'templates')
+def get_result_templates(templates_path):
     result_templates = set()
-    base_path_length = len(base_path) + 1
-    for directory, _, files in os.walk(base_path):
+    templates_path_length = len(templates_path) + 1
+    for directory, _, files in os.walk(templates_path):
         if directory.endswith('result_templates'):
             for filename in files:
-                f = os.path.join(directory[base_path_length:], filename)
+                f = os.path.join(directory[templates_path_length:], filename)
                 result_templates.add(f)
     return result_templates
 
diff --git a/searx/webapp.py b/searx/webapp.py
index 03b572955..253d781ad 100644
--- a/searx/webapp.py
+++ b/searx/webapp.py
@@ -56,9 +56,9 @@ from searx.engines import (
     categories, engines, engine_shortcuts, get_engines_stats, initialize_engines
 )
 from searx.utils import (
-    UnicodeWriter, highlight_content, html_to_text, get_themes,
-    get_static_files, get_result_templates, gen_useragent, dict_subset,
-    prettify_url
+    UnicodeWriter, highlight_content, html_to_text, get_resources_directory,
+    get_static_files, get_result_templates, get_themes, gen_useragent,
+    dict_subset, prettify_url
 )
 from searx.version import VERSION_STRING
 from searx.languages import language_codes
@@ -91,17 +91,25 @@ if sys.version_info[0] == 3:
 from werkzeug.serving import WSGIRequestHandler
 WSGIRequestHandler.protocol_version = "HTTP/{}".format(settings['server'].get('http_protocol_version', '1.0'))
 
-static_path, templates_path, themes =\
-    get_themes(settings['ui']['themes_path']
-               if settings['ui']['themes_path']
-               else searx_dir)
+# about static
+static_path = get_resources_directory(searx_dir, 'static', settings['ui']['static_path'])
+logger.debug('static directory is %s', static_path)
+static_files = get_static_files(static_path)
 
+# about templates
 default_theme = settings['ui']['default_theme']
+templates_path = get_resources_directory(searx_dir, 'templates', settings['ui']['templates_path'])
+logger.debug('templates directory is %s', templates_path)
+themes = get_themes(static_path)
+result_templates = get_result_templates(templates_path)
+global_favicons = []
+for indice, theme in enumerate(themes):
+    global_favicons.append([])
+    theme_img_path = os.path.join(static_path, 'themes', theme, 'img', 'icons')
+    for (dirpath, dirnames, filenames) in os.walk(theme_img_path):
+        global_favicons[indice].extend(filenames)
 
-static_files = get_static_files(searx_dir)
-
-result_templates = get_result_templates(searx_dir)
-
+# Flask app
 app = Flask(
     __name__,
     static_folder=static_path,
@@ -120,13 +128,6 @@ babel = Babel(app)
 rtl_locales = ['ar', 'arc', 'bcc', 'bqi', 'ckb', 'dv', 'fa', 'glk', 'he',
                'ku', 'mzn', 'pnb'', ''ps', 'sd', 'ug', 'ur', 'yi']
 
-global_favicons = []
-for indice, theme in enumerate(themes):
-    global_favicons.append([])
-    theme_img_path = searx_dir + "/static/themes/" + theme + "/img/icons/"
-    for (dirpath, dirnames, filenames) in os.walk(theme_img_path):
-        global_favicons[indice].extend(filenames)
-
 # used when translating category names
 _category_names = (gettext('files'),
                    gettext('general'),