Index: cortav.ct
==================================================================
--- cortav.ct
+++ cortav.ct
@@ -1072,11 +1072,11 @@
 * [*groff]: the most important output backend, rivalling [*html]. will allow the document to be typeset in a wide variety of formats, including PDF and manpage. [!in progress]
 * [*gemtext]: essentially a downrezzing of cortav to make it readable to Gemini clients
 * [*ast]: produces a human- and/or machine-readable dump of the document's syntax tree, to aid in debugging or for interoperation with systems that do not support `cortav` direcly. mode [`ast:repr] wil allow selecting formats for the dump. [`ast:rel] can be [`tree] (the default) to emit a hierarchical representation, or [`flat] to emit an array of nodes that convey hierarchy [^flatdoc by naming one another], rather than being placed inside one another. [`tree] is easier for humans to parse; [`flat] is easier for computers. origin information can be included for each node with the flag [`ast:debug-syms], but be aware this will greatly increase file size.
 ** [`tabtree] [!(default)]: a hierarchical tree view, with the number of tabs preceding an item showing its depth in the tree
 ** [`sexp]
-** [`binary]: emit a raw binary format that is easier for programs to read. maybe an lmdb or cdb file?
+** [`binary]: emit a raw binary format that is easier for programs to read. maybe a msgpack file?
 ** [`json]: obligatory, alas
 
 	flatdoc: ~~~flat sexp example output [scheme]~~~
 		(nodes
 			(section (id . "section1")

Index: cortav.lua
==================================================================
--- cortav.lua
+++ cortav.lua
@@ -972,15 +972,40 @@
 		kind = "paragraph";
 		spans = ct.parse_span(l, c);
 	}
 end)
 
-local insert_subtitle = blockwrap(function(l,c)
-	return {
-		kind = "subtitle";
-		spans = ct.parse_span(l:sub(3), c);
+local insert_caption = blockwrap(function(l,c,j,d)
+	if next(d) == nil then
+		c:fail 'subtitle in an unlabeled section is meaningless'
+	end
+
+	local last = d[#d]
+	local me = {
+		kind = 'subtitle';
+		spans = ct.parse_span(l:sub(3):gsub("^%s+",""), c);
+	}
+
+	local captionable = {
+		quote=true, aside=true,
+		table=true, code=true,
+		embed=true, link=true,
 	}
+
+	if last.kind == 'label' then
+		me.attach = last;
+	elseif last.kind == 'subtitle' then
+		me.attach = last.attach;
+	elseif captionable[last.kind] then
+		me.kind = 'label'
+		me.captions = last
+		last.label_node = me
+	else
+		c:fail 'subtitle/attribution syntax in improper context'
+	end
+
+	return me
 end)
 
 local function
 insert_section(skind) return function(l,c,j)
 	local depth, id, t = l:match '^([#§^]+)([^%s]*)%s*(.-)$'
@@ -1183,11 +1208,11 @@
 	{seq = '¶', fn = insert_paragraph};
 	{seq = '❡', fn = insert_paragraph};
 	{seq = '#', fn = insert_section()};
 	{seq = '§', fn = insert_section()};
 	{seq = '^', fn = insert_section 'namespace'};
-	{seq = '--',fn = insert_subtitle};
+	{seq = '--',fn = insert_caption};
 	{seq = '+', fn = insert_table_row};
 	{seq = '|', fn = insert_table_row};
 	{seq = '│', fn = insert_table_row};
 	{seq = '!', fn = function(l,c,j,d)
 		local last = d[#d]

Index: render/groff.lua
==================================================================
--- render/groff.lua
+++ render/groff.lua
@@ -81,15 +81,15 @@
 			table.insert(me.lines, "'"..r)
 		end;
 		esc = function(me, e)
 			me:raw('\\' .. e)
 		end;
-      draw = function(me, args)
-         for _,v in ipairs(args) do
+		draw = function(me, args)
+			for _,v in ipairs(args) do
 				me:esc("D'" .. v .. "'")
-         end
-      end;
+			end
+		end;
 		flush = function(me)
 			if me.linbuf ~= nil then
 				local line = me.linbuf:compile()
 				local first = line:sub(1,1)
 				-- make sure our lines aren't accidentally interpreted
@@ -420,11 +420,11 @@
 	local blockRenderers = {}
 	blockRenderers['horiz-rule'] = function(rc, b, sec)
 		rc.prop.margin = { top = 0.3 }
 		rc.prop.underline = 0.1
 	end
-	function	blockRenderers.label(rc, b, sec)
+	function blockRenderers.label(rc, b, sec)
 		if ct.sec.is(b.captions) then
 			local visDepth = b.captions.depth + (b.origin.docDepth or 0)
 			local sizes = {36,24,12,8,4,2}
 			local margins = {0,3}
 			local dedents = {2.5,1.3,0.8,0.4}
@@ -445,18 +445,23 @@
 			rs.renderSpans(rc, b.spans, b, sec)
 		else
 			ss.bug 'tried to render label for an unknown object type':throw()
 		end
 	end
-	function	blockRenderers.paragraph(rc, b, sec)
+	function blockRenderers.paragraph(rc, b, sec)
+		rs.renderSpans(rc, b.spans, b, sec)
+	end
+	function blockRenderers.subtitle(rc, b, sec)
+		rc.prop.dsz = 16 -- TODO base on "parent" label
+		rc.prop.emph = true
 		rs.renderSpans(rc, b.spans, b, sec)
 	end
-	function	blockRenderers.macro(rc, b, sec)
+	function blockRenderers.macro(rc, b, sec)
 		local rc = rc.parent:clone()
 		rs.renderDoc(rc, b.doc)
 	end
-	function	blockRenderers.quote(rc, b, sec)
+	function blockRenderers.quote(rc, b, sec)
 		local rc = rc.parent:clone()
 		rc.prop.indent = (rc.prop.indent or 0) + 1
 		local added = rs.renderDoc(rc, b.doc)
 		 -- select last block of last section and increase bottom margin
 		local ap = added[#added].blocks
@@ -469,11 +474,11 @@
 			end
 		else
 			ap.margin = {bottom = 1.1}
 		end
 	end
-	function	blockRenderers.table(rc, b, sec)
+	function blockRenderers.table(rc, b, sec)
 		function rc:begin(g)
 			g:req 'TS'
 			local aligns = {}
 			for i, c in ipairs(b.rows[1]) do
 				aligns[i] = ({

Index: render/html.lua
==================================================================
--- render/html.lua
+++ render/html.lua
@@ -261,15 +261,10 @@
 				color: @tone(0.3 20); 
 				font-size: 1.2em;
 				font-style: italic;
 				margin-left: 1em;
 			}
-			blockquote + .subtitle {
-				&::before {
-					content: "— ";
-				}
-			}
 		]];
 		accent = [[
 			@media screen {
 				body { background: @bg; color: @fg }
 				a[href] {
@@ -315,11 +310,20 @@
 				margin: 0;
 			}
          section aside + aside {
 				margin-top: 0.5em;
 			}
-      ]];
+		]];
+		quoteCaption = [[
+			blockquote > div.caption {
+				text-align: right;
+				font-style: italic;
+				&::before {
+					content: "— ";
+				}
+			}
+		]];
 		code = [[
 			code {
 				display: inline-block;
 				background: @tone(-1);
 				color: @tone(0.7);
@@ -1023,17 +1027,32 @@
 					local mime = s.mime:clone()
 					mime.opts = {}
 					return string.format('data:%s;base64,%s', mime, ss.str.b64e(s.raw))
 				end
 			end
-			--figure out how to embed the given object
 			local function P(p) -- get prop
 				if b.props and b.props[p] then
 					return b.props[p]
 				end
 				return obj.props[p]
 			end
+
+			local cap = b.cap or P'desc' or P'detail'
+			local capIR = '';
+			if b.label_node then
+				local ln = b.label_node
+				capIR = sr.htmlSpan(ln.spans, ln, s)
+			elseif cap then
+				 -- the block here should really be the relevant
+				 -- ref definition if an override caption isn't
+				 -- specified, but oh well
+				capIR = sr.htmlSpan(spanparse(
+					cap, b.origin
+				), b, s)
+			end
+
+			--figure out how to embed the given object
 			local embedActs = {
 				{ss.mime'image/*',       function(s,ctr)
 					if s == nil then
 						return {tag = "picture", nodes = {}}
 					else
@@ -1141,13 +1160,15 @@
 				end
 			end
 			-- nothing found; install fallback link
 				if fallback then
 					local lnk = htmlURI(fallback.uri)
-					return tag('a', {href=lnk},
-								  tag('div',{class=xref},
-										string.format("→ %s [%s]", b.cap or '', tostring(fallback.mime))))
+					return tag('a', {href=lnk}, catenate {
+							  tag('div',{class=xref}, catenate {
+								  '→ '; capIR;
+								  string.format(" [%s]", tostring(fallback.mime));
+							  })})
 				else
 					addStyle 'docmeta'
 					return tag('div',{class="render-warn"},
 								  'could not embed object type ' .. tostring(obj.srcs.mime))
 				end
@@ -1158,29 +1179,20 @@
 				if rtype[1] < src.mime then
 					rtype[2](src, top)
 				end
 			end
 			local ft = flatten(top)
-			local cap = b.cap or P'desc' or P'detail'
 			if b.mode == 'inline' then
 				-- TODO insert caption
 				return ft
 			else
 				local prop = {}
 				if b.mode == 'open' then
 					prop.open = true
 				end
 				return tag('details', prop, catenate {
-					tag('summary', {},
-						 cap and (
-							 -- the block here should really be the relevant
-							 -- ref definition if an override caption isn't
-							 -- specified, but oh well
-							 sr.htmlSpan(spanparse(
-								 cap, b.origin
-							 ), b, s)
-						) or '');
+					tag('summary', {}, capIR);
 					ft;
 				})
 			end
 		end
 
@@ -1190,10 +1202,15 @@
 			return tag(nil, {}, cat)
 		end
 
 		function block_renderers.quote(b,s)
 			local ir = renderSubdoc(b.doc)
+			if b.label_node then
+				addStyle 'quoteCaption'
+				table.insert(ir, tag('div', {class='caption'},
+					sr.htmlSpan(b.label_node.spans, b.label_node, s)))
+			end
 			return tag('blockquote', b.id and {id=getSafeID(b)} or {}, catenate(ss.map(flatten,ir)))
 		end
 
 		return block_renderers
 	end