diff --git a/api/api.lua b/api/api.lua
index 40a62b7c..e49e5818 100644
--- a/api/api.lua
+++ b/api/api.lua
@@ -92,25 +92,24 @@ gfind = string.gmatch or string.gfind
 mod = math.mod or mod
 
 -- [ strsplit ]
--- Splits a string using a delimiter. Thin wrapper that delegates to
--- ClassicAPI's C-level strsplit, kept as a pfUI.api entry point for
--- backwards compatibility with addons that call pfUI.api.strsplit.
--- Note: unlike the old Lua implementation, empty fields are preserved
--- (e.g. "a,,b" -> "a", "", "b"), matching real strsplit semantics.
+-- Splits a string using a delimiter. Self-contained on purpose: it does NOT
+-- delegate to the global strsplit / string.split, because third-party addons
+-- clobber those (e.g. BigWigs' SpellRequests redefines string:split to return
+-- a table, which would make this return a single table instead of r,g,b,a and
+-- break color/version parsing depending on load order). Delimiter chars are
+-- treated as a set (any one char splits), and empty fields are preserved
+-- ("a,,b" -> "a", "", "b"), matching real strsplit semantics.
 -- 'delimiter'  [string]        characters that will be interpreted as delimiter
 --                              characters (bytes) in the string.
 -- 'subject'    [string]        String to split.
 -- return:      [list]          a list of strings.
-local stringsplit = _G.string.split
+local format, sgsub = string.format, string.gsub
 function pfUI.api.strsplit(delimiter, subject)
   if not subject then return nil end
-  delimiter = delimiter or ":"
-  if stringsplit then
-    return stringsplit(delimiter, subject)
-  end
   local fields = {}
-  local pattern = string.format("([^%s]+)", delimiter)
-  string.gsub(subject, pattern, function(c) fields[table.getn(fields)+1] = c end)
+  delimiter = delimiter or ":"
+  local pattern = format("([^%s]+)", delimiter)
+  sgsub(subject, pattern, function(c) fields[table.getn(fields)+1] = c end)
   return unpack(fields)
 end
 
diff --git a/modules/castbar.lua b/modules/castbar.lua
index 1c6acfc9..8cc13074 100644
--- a/modules/castbar.lua
+++ b/modules/castbar.lua
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ pfUI:RegisterModule("castbar", function ()
     cb:SetAlpha(1)
     cb.fadeout = nil
 
-    cb.bar:SetStatusBarColor(strsplit(",", C.appearance.castbar[isChannel and "channelcolor" or "castbarcolor"]))
+    cb.bar:SetStatusBarColor(GetStringColor(C.appearance.castbar[isChannel and "channelcolor" or "castbarcolor"]))
 
     local rank = ""
     if spellID then
@@ -103,8 +103,7 @@ pfUI:RegisterModule("castbar", function ()
     if tex and cb.showicon then
       local size = cb:GetHeight()
       cb.icon:Show()
-      cb.icon:SetHeight(size)
-      cb.icon:SetWidth(size)
+      cb.icon:SetSize(size, size)
       cb.icon.texture:SetTexture(tex)
       cb.bar:SetPoint("TOPLEFT", cb.icon, "TOPRIGHT", cb.spacing, 0)
     else
@@ -169,8 +168,7 @@ pfUI:RegisterModule("castbar", function ()
     -- icon
     cb.icon = CreateFrame("Frame", nil, cb)
     cb.icon:SetPoint("TOPLEFT", 0, 0)
-    cb.icon:SetHeight(16)
-    cb.icon:SetWidth(16)
+    cb.icon:SetSize(16, 16)
 
     cb.icon.texture = cb.icon:CreateTexture(nil, "OVERLAY")
     cb.icon.texture:SetAllPoints()
diff --git a/modules/nameplates.lua b/modules/nameplates.lua
index d1baf17d..c2c0f1f4 100644
--- a/modules/nameplates.lua
+++ b/modules/nameplates.lua
@@ -1570,7 +1570,7 @@ nameplates:RegisterEvent("UNIT_FLAGS")
       -- Relative 0..duration range to avoid float precision loss with large
       -- absolute timestamps.
       nameplate.castbar:SetMinMaxValues(0, duration)
-      nameplate.castbar:SetStatusBarColor(strsplit(",", C.appearance.castbar[(isChannel and "channelcolor" or "castbarcolor")]))
+      nameplate.castbar:SetStatusBarColor(GetStringColor(C.appearance.castbar[(isChannel and "channelcolor" or "castbarcolor")]))
       if castInfo.icon then
         nameplate.castbar.icon.tex:SetTexture(castInfo.icon)
         nameplate.castbar.icon.tex:SetTexCoord(.1,.9,.1,.9)