diff --git a/forms/AjaxUniqueTextField.php b/forms/AjaxUniqueTextField.php
index 952f507f5..d41fed224 100644
--- a/forms/AjaxUniqueTextField.php
+++ b/forms/AjaxUniqueTextField.php
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ class AjaxUniqueTextField extends TextField {
 			'maxlength' => ($this->maxLength) ? $this->maxLength : null
 		);
 		
-		return $this->createTag('input', $attributes);
+		return FormField::create_tag('input', $attributes);
 	}
 
 	public function validate( $validator ) {
diff --git a/forms/FormField.php b/forms/FormField.php
index 6f2670ba6..0ec3dd06a 100644
--- a/forms/FormField.php
+++ b/forms/FormField.php
@@ -117,6 +117,23 @@ class FormField extends RequestHandler {
 		return $label;
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Construct and return HTML tag.
+	 */
+	public static function create_tag($tag, $attributes, $content = null) {
+		$preparedAttributes = '';
+		foreach($attributes as $k => $v) {
+			// Note: as indicated by the $k == value item here; the decisions over what to include in the attributes
+			// can sometimes get finicky
+			if(!empty($v) || $v === '0' || $k == 'value') {
+				$preparedAttributes .= " $k=\"" . Convert::raw2att($v) . "\"";
+			}
+		}
+
+		if($content || $tag != 'input') return "<$tag$preparedAttributes>$content</$tag>";
+		else return "<$tag$preparedAttributes />";
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Create a new field.
 	 * @param name The internal field name, passed to forms.
@@ -739,26 +756,9 @@ class FormField extends RequestHandler {
 		return strtolower(preg_replace('/Field$/', '', $this->class));	
 	}
 
-	/**
-	 * Construct and return HTML tag.
-	 * 
-	 * @deprecated 3.0 Please define your own FormField template using {@link setFieldTemplate()}
-	 * and/or {@link renderFieldTemplate()}
-	 * 
-	 * @todo Transform to static helper method.
-	 */
 	public function createTag($tag, $attributes, $content = null) {
-		$preparedAttributes = '';
-		foreach($attributes as $k => $v) {
-			// Note: as indicated by the $k == value item here; the decisions over what to include in the attributes
-			// can sometimes get finicky
-			if(!empty($v) || $v === '0' || $k == 'value') {
-				$preparedAttributes .= " $k=\"" . Convert::raw2att($v) . "\"";
-			}
-		}
-
-		if($content || $tag != 'input') return "<$tag$preparedAttributes>$content</$tag>";
-		else return "<$tag$preparedAttributes />";
+		Deprecation::notice('3.1', 'Use FormField::create_tag()');
+		return self::create_tag($tag, $attributes, $content);
 	}
 
 	/**
diff --git a/forms/GroupedDropdownField.php b/forms/GroupedDropdownField.php
index 50e2ae724..3ab4bab5b 100644
--- a/forms/GroupedDropdownField.php
+++ b/forms/GroupedDropdownField.php
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ class GroupedDropdownField extends DropdownField {
 			}
 		}
 
-		return $this->createTag('select', $this->getAttributes(), $options);
+		return FormField::create_tag('select', $this->getAttributes(), $options);
 	}
 
 	public function Type() {
diff --git a/forms/HtmlEditorField.php b/forms/HtmlEditorField.php
index c266b2d0e..deee5bccd 100644
--- a/forms/HtmlEditorField.php
+++ b/forms/HtmlEditorField.php
@@ -76,11 +76,10 @@ class HtmlEditorField extends TextareaField {
 			}
 		}
 
-		return $this->createTag (
-			'textarea',
-			$this->getAttributes(),
-			htmlentities($value->getContent(), ENT_COMPAT, 'UTF-8')
-		);
+		$properties['Value'] = htmlentities($value->getContent(), ENT_COMPAT, 'UTF-8');
+		$obj = $this->customise($properties);
+
+		return $obj->renderWith($this->getTemplates());
 	}
 
 	public function getAttributes() {
diff --git a/forms/TreeMultiselectField.php b/forms/TreeMultiselectField.php
index 6a28273ba..f651e0ad2 100644
--- a/forms/TreeMultiselectField.php
+++ b/forms/TreeMultiselectField.php
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ class TreeMultiselectField extends TreeDropdownField {
 			$title = _t('DropdownField.CHOOSE', '(Choose)', 'start value of a dropdown');
 		} 
 		
-		return $this->createTag (
+		return FormField::create_tag(
 			'div',
 			array (
 				'id'    => "TreeDropdownField_{$this->id()}",
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ class TreeMultiselectField extends TreeDropdownField {
 				'data-title' => $title,
 				'title' => $this->getDescription()
 			),
-			$this->createTag (
+			FormField::create_tag(
 				'input',
 				array (
 					'id'    => $this->id(),
diff --git a/forms/gridfield/GridField.php b/forms/gridfield/GridField.php
index 16e1215af..4cbaec58e 100644
--- a/forms/gridfield/GridField.php
+++ b/forms/gridfield/GridField.php
@@ -339,13 +339,13 @@ class GridField extends FormField {
 					// A return value of null means this columns should be skipped altogether.
 					if($colContent === null) continue;
 					$colAttributes = $this->getColumnAttributes($record, $column);
-					$rowContent .= $this->createTag('td', $colAttributes, $colContent);
+					$rowContent .= FormField::create_tag('td', $colAttributes, $colContent);
 				}
 				$classes = array('ss-gridfield-item');
 				if ($idx == 0) $classes[] = 'first';
 				if ($idx == $total-1) $classes[] = 'last';
 				$classes[] = ($idx % 2) ? 'even' : 'odd';
-				$row = $this->createTag(
+				$row = FormField::create_tag(
 					'tr',
 					array(
 						"class" => implode(' ', $classes),
@@ -361,26 +361,27 @@ class GridField extends FormField {
 		} 
 		
 		// Display a message when the grid field is empty
-		if(!(isset($content['body']) && $content['body'])) {    
-			$content['body'] = $this->createTag(
+		if(!(isset($content['body']) && $content['body'])) {
+			$content['body'] = FormField::create_tag(
 				'tr',
 				array("class" => 'ss-gridfield-item ss-gridfield-no-items'),
-				$this->createTag(
+				FormField::create_tag(
 					'td',
 					array('colspan' => count($columns)),
-					_t('GridField.NoItemsFound', 'No items found'))
+					_t('GridField.NoItemsFound', 'No items found')
+				)
 			);
 		}
 
 		// Turn into the relevant parts of a table
 		$head = $content['header']
-			? $this->createTag('thead', array(), $content['header'])
+			? FormField::create_tag('thead', array(), $content['header'])
 			: '';
 		$body = $content['body']
-			? $this->createTag('tbody', array('class' => 'ss-gridfield-items'), $content['body'])
+			? FormField::create_tag('tbody', array('class' => 'ss-gridfield-items'), $content['body'])
 			: '';
 		$foot = $content['footer']
-			? $this->createTag('tfoot', array(), $content['footer'])
+			? FormField::create_tag('tfoot', array(), $content['footer'])
 			: '';
 
 		$this->addExtraClass('ss-gridfield field');
@@ -398,9 +399,9 @@ class GridField extends FormField {
 
 
 		return
-			$this->createTag('fieldset', $attrs, 
+			FormField::create_tag('fieldset', $attrs, 
 				$content['before'] .
-				$this->createTag('table', $tableAttrs, $head."\n".$foot."\n".$body) .
+				FormField::create_tag('table', $tableAttrs, $head."\n".$foot."\n".$body) .
 				$content['after']
 			);
 	}
diff --git a/forms/gridfield/GridFieldDeleteAction.php b/forms/gridfield/GridFieldDeleteAction.php
index e5a959418..16c24a10b 100644
--- a/forms/gridfield/GridFieldDeleteAction.php
+++ b/forms/gridfield/GridFieldDeleteAction.php
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ class GridFieldDeleteAction implements GridField_ColumnProvider, GridField_Actio
 	}
 	
 	/**
-	 * Return any special attributes that will be used for FormField::createTag()
+	 * Return any special attributes that will be used for FormField::create_tag()
 	 *
 	 * @param GridField $gridField
 	 * @param DataObject $record
diff --git a/forms/gridfield/GridFieldEditButton.php b/forms/gridfield/GridFieldEditButton.php
index 1bada543b..1c6836ed6 100644
--- a/forms/gridfield/GridFieldEditButton.php
+++ b/forms/gridfield/GridFieldEditButton.php
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ class GridFieldEditButton implements GridField_ColumnProvider {
 	}
 	
 	/**
-	 * Return any special attributes that will be used for FormField::createTag()
+	 * Return any special attributes that will be used for FormField::create_tag()
 	 *
 	 * @param GridField $gridField
 	 * @param DataObject $record