diff --git a/html.c b/html.c
index 7651a5b..db7d10e 100644
--- a/html.c
+++ b/html.c
@@ -16,69 +16,53 @@ d_char *not_really_markdown(char *content, d_char **f_content)
     int in_blq = 0;
     xs *list;
     char *p, *v;
-    xs *wrk = xs_dup(content);
-
-    /* global changes */
-    {
-        /* backticks */
-        xs *ml = xs_regex_match(wrk, "`[^`]+`");
-        p = ml;
-
-        while (xs_list_iter(&p, &v)) {
-            xs *s1 = xs_crop(xs_dup(v), 1, -1);
-            xs *s2 = xs_fmt("<code>%s</code>", s1);
-
-            wrk = xs_replace_i(wrk, v, s2);
-        }
-    }
+    xs *wrk = xs_str_new(NULL);
 
     {
-        /* double asterisks */
-        xs *ml = xs_regex_match(wrk, "\\*\\*[^\\*]+\\*\\*");
-        p = ml;
+        /* split by special markup */
+        xs *sm = xs_regex_split(content,
+            "(`[^`]+`|\\*\\*?[^\\*]+\\*?\\*|https?:/" "/[^ ]*)");
+        int n = 0;
 
+        p = sm;
         while (xs_list_iter(&p, &v)) {
-            xs *s1 = xs_crop(xs_dup(v), 2, -2);
-            xs *s2 = xs_fmt("<b>%s</b>", s1);
-
-            wrk = xs_replace_i(wrk, v, s2);
-        }
-    }
-
-    {
-        /* single asterisks */
-        xs *ml = xs_regex_match(wrk, "\\*[^\\*]+\\*");
-        p = ml;
-
-        while (xs_list_iter(&p, &v)) {
-            xs *s1 = xs_crop(xs_dup(v), 1, -1);
-            xs *s2 = xs_fmt("<i>%s</i>", s1);
-
-            wrk = xs_replace_i(wrk, v, s2);
-        }
-    }
-
-#if 0
-    {
-        /* urls */
-        xs *done = xs_list_new();
-        xs *ml = xs_regex_matchall(wrk, "https?:/" "/[^ ]+");
-        p = ml;
-
-        while (xs_list_iter(&p, &v)) {
-            if (xs_list_in(done, v) == -1) {
-                xs *s2 = xs_fmt("<a href=\"%s\">%s</a>", v, v);
-                wrk = xs_replace_i(wrk, v, s2);
-
-                /* keep track of already done replaces */
-                done = xs_list_append(done, v);
+            if ((n & 0x1)) {
+                /* markup */
+                if (xs_startswith(v, "`")) {
+                    xs *s1 = xs_crop(xs_dup(v), 1, -1);
+                    xs *s2 = xs_fmt("<code>%s</code>", s1);
+                    wrk = xs_str_cat(wrk, s2);
+                }
+                else
+                if (xs_startswith(v, "**")) {
+                    xs *s1 = xs_crop(xs_dup(v), 2, -2);
+                    xs *s2 = xs_fmt("<b>%s</b>", s1);
+                    wrk = xs_str_cat(wrk, s2);
+                }
+                else
+                if (xs_startswith(v, "*")) {
+                    xs *s1 = xs_crop(xs_dup(v), 1, -1);
+                    xs *s2 = xs_fmt("<i>%s</i>", s1);
+                    wrk = xs_str_cat(wrk, s2);
+                }
+                else
+                if (xs_startswith(v, "http")) {
+                    xs *s1 = xs_fmt("<a href=\"%s\">%s</a>", v, v);
+                    wrk = xs_str_cat(wrk, s1);
+                }
+                else
+                    /* what the hell is this */
+                    wrk = xs_str_cat(wrk, v);
             }
+            else
+                /* surrounded text, copy directly */
+                wrk = xs_str_cat(wrk, v);
+
+            n++;
         }
     }
-#endif
-
-    /* now work on lines */
 
+    /* now work by lines */
     p = list = xs_split(wrk, "\n");
 
     s = xs_str_new(NULL);