diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index cadf017..b0b3233 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 result
 src/fonts
 src/blog/**/index.html
+src/blog/highlighting.css
diff --git a/buildblog.sh b/buildblog.sh
index 3abc691..b584c49 100755
--- a/buildblog.sh
+++ b/buildblog.sh
@@ -1,28 +1,50 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env sh
 
+index_template='template_index.html'
+page_template='template_page.html'
 template_start='<!--BEGIN TEMPLATE-->'
 template_end='<!--END TEMPLATE-->'
 
-[ -n "$1" ] && cd "$1"
+[ -n "${1}" ] && cd "${1}"
+! [ -e "$index_template" ] && echo "${0}: error: ${1%/}/${index_template} does not exist" >&2 && exit 1
+! [ -e "$page_template" ] && echo "${0}: error: ${1%/}/${page_template} does not exist" >&2 && exit 1
 
-sed "/${template_start}/q" ./index_template.html > ./index.html
+# generate the code syntax highlighting css
+# unfortunately pandoc did not like --template=<(echo ...)
+# shellcheck disable=SC2016
+echo '$highlighting-css$' > ./highlighting.css
+# time to prank pandoc epic style
+echo $'``` c\n```' | pandoc -f djot -t html5 \
+    --template=./highlighting.css -o ./highlighting.css \
+    --highlight-style=tango # to be replaced, probably
+
+# ...because of this. and because it looks eh
+cat >> ./highlighting.css <<EOF
+.sourceCode { color: black; }
+EOF
+
+sed "/${template_start}/q" "${index_template}" > ./index.html
 
 # this... thing turns the template in the html into a json string with jq string interpolation, to be passed back into jq
 # thankfully this only has to be done once. cursedd
-template="$(sed "/\s*${template_start}/,/\s*${template_end}/!d;//d" ./index_template.html | \
+template="$(sed "/\s*${template_start}/,/\s*${template_end}/!d;//d" "${index_template}" | \
             jq -Rs '"\"" + (gsub("(?<s>^|}})(?<p>.+?)(?<e>{{|$)"; "\(.s + (.p|@json|trimstr("\"")) + .e)"; "m") | rtrim | gsub("{{(?<p>.+?)}}"; "\\(\(.p))"; "m")) + "\""' -r)"
 
 find . -name content.djot -print0 | sort -r -z | while read -r -d '' post; do
     post="${post%/*}"
     echo -n "${post} "
-    jq -r '.title' "${post}/meta.json"
+    slashesinpath="${post//[^\/]}" # delete everything that isnt a slash
+    slashesinpath="${#slashesinpath}" # count whats left (count slashes in $post)
+    backtoblogroot="$(for ((i=0; i < slashesinpath; i++)); do echo -n '../'; done)"
+    backtoblogroot="${backtoblogroot%/}"
+    jq '.title' "${post}/meta.json"
     jq -r --arg path "${post#./*/*/}" "${template}" "${post}/meta.json" >> ./index.html
     pandoc -f djot -t html5 \
         --mathml \
-        --highlight-style=kate \
-        --standalone \
+        --template="${page_template}" \
+        --variable="backtoblogroot=${backtoblogroot}" \
         --metadata-file="${post}/meta.json" \
         "${post}/content.djot" -o "${post}/index.html"
 done
 
-sed -n "/${template_end}/,\$p" ./index_template.html >> ./index.html
+sed -n "/${template_end}/,\$p" "${index_template}" >> ./index.html
diff --git a/flake.nix b/flake.nix
index 605640a..812ec25 100644
--- a/flake.nix
+++ b/flake.nix
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@
 
               ln -sf ${selfPkgs.website-fonts} ./fonts
               ${selfPkgs.buildblog}/bin/buildblog blog/
-              rm blog/index_template.html
+              rm blog/template_{index,page}.html
 
               runHook postBuild
             '';
diff --git a/src/blog/2025-09-14-test/content.djot b/src/blog/2025-09-14-test/content.djot
index 12831d5..9241595 100644
--- a/src/blog/2025-09-14-test/content.djot
+++ b/src/blog/2025-09-14-test/content.djot
@@ -1,12 +1,40 @@
-# test post
-
 helloooo *oooo* _oooh_
 
-``` c
-#include <stdio.h>
+heres some math lmao $`\frac{2}{3} * \frac{3}{2}`
+
+and heres some blurb the fitnessgram pacer test yadda yadda yadda
+ooooo aaaaa did you kn EU07.EXE EU07 (cmake), 00578a3 (committed at 2024-06-13 01:29:12 +0200)
+Failed to open file "eu07.ini" Bad init: failed to create glfw window
+Did you know it's really easy to hack your 3DS? Anyone can do it!
 
-int main() {
-    printf("balls\n");
-    return 0;
-}
+the gnome color palette is really nice i should use it here tbh. look ma i am design
+
+I am Steve Jobs? I am Steve Jobs.
+
+``` c
+// a more realistic code example
+for (i = 0; i < samplecount; i++) {
+    int8_t s = samples[i];
+    
+    // correlation:  multiply by sine and cosine f=1200Hz and 2200Hz
+    // 1200.0 * SPS = samplerate
+    // & (1<<int(SPS/8+1) - 1)
+    int_mark_i[i & 0b111] = sin(TWOPI * i * (1200.0 / (1200.0 * SPS))) * s;
+    int_mark_q[i & 0b111] = cos(TWOPI * i * (1200.0 / (1200.0 * SPS))) * s;
+    int_space_i[i & 0b111] = sin(TWOPI * i * (2200.0 / (1200.0 * SPS))) * s;
+    int_space_q[i & 0b111] = cos(TWOPI * i * (2200.0 / (1200.0 * SPS))) * s;
+    // integration
+    float sum_mark_i = 0;
+    float sum_mark_q = 0;
+    float sum_space_i = 0;
+    float sum_space_q = 0;
+    for (uint8_t j = 0; j < SPS; j++) {
+        sum_mark_i += int_mark_i[j];
+        sum_mark_q += int_mark_q[j];
+        sum_space_i += int_space_i[j];
+        sum_space_q += int_space_q[j];
+    }
+    float sum_mark = sum_mark_i*sum_mark_i + sum_mark_q*sum_mark_q;
+    float sum_space = sum_space_i*sum_space_i + sum_space_q*sum_space_q;
+/* ... */
 ```
diff --git a/src/blog/2025-09-14-test/meta.json b/src/blog/2025-09-14-test/meta.json
index 686841b..b8d6565 100644
--- a/src/blog/2025-09-14-test/meta.json
+++ b/src/blog/2025-09-14-test/meta.json
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 {
     "title": "me and my stupid chud blog ssg child",
+    "lang": "en",
     "date": "2025-09-14",
     "tags": ["test", "test2"]
 }
diff --git a/src/blog/index_template.html b/src/blog/template_index.html
similarity index 100%
rename from src/blog/index_template.html
rename to src/blog/template_index.html
diff --git a/src/blog/template_page.html b/src/blog/template_page.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e242df7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/blog/template_page.html
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+<!DOCTYPE html>
+<html lang="$lang$">
+<head>
+    <meta charset="UTF-8">
+    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
+    <meta name="generator" content="pandoc and a shell script">
+    <title>$if(title-prefix)$$title-prefix$ &ndash; $endif$$pagetitle$</title>
+$if(highlighting-css)$
+    <link rel="stylesheet" href="$backtoblogroot$/highlighting.css">
+$endif$
+    <link rel="stylesheet" href="$backtoblogroot$/../style.css">
+$for(author-meta)$
+    <meta name="author" content="$author-meta$" />
+$endfor$
+$if(keywords)$
+    <meta name="keywords" content="$for(keywords)$$keywords$$sep$, $endfor$" />
+$endif$
+$if(description-meta)$
+    <meta name="description" content="$description-meta$" />
+$endif$
+$for(css)$
+    <link rel="stylesheet" href="$css$" />
+$endfor$
+$for(header-includes)$
+    $header-includes$
+$endfor$
+</head>
+<body>
+    <article>
+$for(include-before)$
+$include-before$
+$endfor$
+$if(title)$
+        <header id="title-block-header">
+            <h1 class="title">$title$</h1>
+            <p>
+$if(date-meta)$
+                <time datetime="$date-meta$">$date-meta$</time>
+$endif$
+                $for(tags)$<span class="tag" data-tag="$tags$">$tags$</span> $endfor$
+            </p>
+$if(subtitle)$
+            <p class="subtitle">$subtitle$</p>
+$endif$
+        </header>
+$endif$
+        <main>
+$body$
+        </main>
+$for(include-after)$
+$include-after$
+$endfor$
+    </article>
+</body>
+</html>
diff --git a/src/style.css b/src/style.css
index 834b968..4d22753 100644
--- a/src/style.css
+++ b/src/style.css
@@ -67,8 +67,16 @@ img { display: block; }
     background-color: var(--color-fg);
     color: var(--color-bg);
     font-size: 0.9em;
-    border-radius: 0.4em;
-    padding: 0.2em 0.4em;
+    border-radius: 0.3rem;
+    padding: 0.2rem 0.4rem;
 }
 
 .tag[data-tag="test"] { background-color: rgb(255, 112, 112); color: black; }
+
+pre {
+    padding: 1rem;
+    font-size: 1.1em;
+}
+:not(.sourceCode) > pre:has(code), div.sourceCode {
+    border-radius: 1rem;
+}