diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 411aef91008..18e929c9a40 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+AABB_tree/demo/AABB_tree/*.exe
+AABB_tree/demo/AABB_tree/*.sln
+AABB_tree/demo/AABB_tree/*.vcproj
+AABB_tree/demo/AABB_tree/AABB_demo
 AABB_tree/demo/AABB_tree/CMakeLists.txt
 AABB_tree/demo/AABB_tree/Makefile
 AABB_tree/examples/AABB_tree/*.kdev*
diff --git a/AABB_tree/doc_tex/AABB_tree_ref/AABBTraits.tex b/AABB_tree/doc_tex/AABB_tree_ref/AABBTraits.tex
index 4dd2232b8ad..7502009aab0 100644
--- a/AABB_tree/doc_tex/AABB_tree_ref/AABBTraits.tex
+++ b/AABB_tree/doc_tex/AABB_tree_ref/AABBTraits.tex
@@ -23,8 +23,6 @@ The concept \ccRefName\ provides the geometric primitive types and methods for t
 
 \ccTypes
 
-\ccNestedType{size_type}{Unsigned integral type.}
-
 \ccNestedType{FT}{Value type of the \ccc{Squared_distance} functor.}
 
 \ccNestedType{Point_3}{Type of a 3D point.}
diff --git a/AABB_tree/doc_tex/AABB_tree_ref/AABB_tree.tex b/AABB_tree/doc_tex/AABB_tree_ref/AABB_tree.tex
index 47eb38064c6..d401a020816 100644
--- a/AABB_tree/doc_tex/AABB_tree_ref/AABB_tree.tex
+++ b/AABB_tree/doc_tex/AABB_tree_ref/AABB_tree.tex
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ Class \ccRefName\ is a static data structure for efficient intersection and dist
 
 \ccTypes
 
-\ccTypedef{AT::size_type size_type;}
+\ccNestedType{size_type;}
           {Unsigned integral size type.}
 \ccGlue
 \ccTypedef{AT::FT FT;}
diff --git a/AABB_tree/include/CGAL/AABB_traits.h b/AABB_tree/include/CGAL/AABB_traits.h
index f688f0075c9..37dd23a7ae9 100644
--- a/AABB_tree/include/CGAL/AABB_traits.h
+++ b/AABB_tree/include/CGAL/AABB_traits.h
@@ -46,7 +46,6 @@ public:
 
   typedef AABB_primitive Primitive;
   typedef typename AABB_primitive::Datum Datum;
-  typedef unsigned int size_type;
 
   typedef typename GeomTraits::Point_3 Point;
 
diff --git a/AABB_tree/include/CGAL/AABB_tree.h b/AABB_tree/include/CGAL/AABB_tree.h
index 1a972d99da9..fe57ccd1dc3 100644
--- a/AABB_tree/include/CGAL/AABB_tree.h
+++ b/AABB_tree/include/CGAL/AABB_tree.h
@@ -40,7 +40,6 @@ namespace CGAL {
 		/// types
 		typedef typename AABBTraits::FT FT;
 		typedef typename AABBTraits::Point Point;
-		typedef typename AABBTraits::size_type size_type;
 		typedef typename AABBTraits::Primitive Primitive;
 		typedef typename AABBTraits::Bounding_box Bounding_box;
 		typedef typename AABBTraits::Primitive::Id Primitive_id;
@@ -51,6 +50,13 @@ namespace CGAL {
 		// internal KD-tree used to accelerate the distance queries
 		typedef AABB_search_tree<AABBTraits> Search_tree;
 
+		// type of the primitives container
+		typedef std::vector<Primitive> Primitives;
+
+	public:
+		// size type is the size_type of the primitive container
+		typedef typename Primitives::size_type size_type; 
+
 	public:
 		/**
 		* @brief Constructor
@@ -416,7 +422,7 @@ namespace CGAL {
 
 	private:
 		// set of input primitives
-		std::vector<Primitive> m_primitives;
+		Primitives m_primitives;
 		// single root node
 		Node* m_p_root_node;
 		// search KD-tree
@@ -517,7 +523,7 @@ namespace CGAL {
 
 		// iterate over primitives to get reference points on them
 		std::vector<Point_and_primitive_id> points;
-		typename std::vector<Primitive>::const_iterator it;
+		typename Primitives::const_iterator it;
 		for(it = m_primitives.begin(); it != m_primitives.end(); ++it)
 			points.push_back(Point_and_primitive_id(it->reference_point(), it->id()));
 
diff --git a/AABB_tree/test/AABB_tree/AABB_test_util.h b/AABB_tree/test/AABB_tree/AABB_test_util.h
index a89b415c03e..3e74455ace8 100644
--- a/AABB_tree/test/AABB_tree/AABB_test_util.h
+++ b/AABB_tree/test/AABB_tree/AABB_test_util.h
@@ -304,7 +304,7 @@ class Naive_implementations
   typedef typename Pr_generator::Primitive Pr;
   typedef CGAL::AABB_traits<K, Pr> Traits;
   typedef typename Pr_generator::iterator Polyhedron_primitive_iterator;
-  typedef typename Traits::size_type size_type;
+  typedef unsigned int size_type;
   typedef typename Traits::Object_and_primitive_id Object_and_primitive_id;
   typedef typename Pr::Id Primitive_id;
   typedef typename Traits::FT FT;