@@ -165,8 +165,11 @@ desc "start up an instance of serve on the output files"

 task :start_serve => :stop_serve do

   cd "#{site}" do

     print "Starting serve..."

-    ok_failed system("serve #{port} > /dev/null 2>&1 &")

-    system "open http://localhost:#{port}"

+    system("serve #{port} > /dev/null 2>&1 &")

+    sleep 1

+    pid = `ps auxw | awk '/bin\\/serve\\ #{port}/ { print $2 }'`.strip

+    ok_failed !pid.empty?

+    system "open http://localhost:#{port}" unless pid.empty?

   end

 end