diff --git a/BACKLOG.org b/BACKLOG.org
index 68ba0feec..8fbede695 100644
--- a/BACKLOG.org
+++ b/BACKLOG.org
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 * BACKLOG.org
+#+OPTIONS: H:2
 
 An efficient public store of tasks/changes/design notes, mostly from
 SM's private backlog; things that I/we feel would be nice to have, or
diff --git a/Shake.hs b/Shake.hs
index 7da9a045e..7a2e9bd2f 100755
--- a/Shake.hs
+++ b/Shake.hs
@@ -768,14 +768,40 @@ main = do
        ] |%> \out -> do
         let src = drop 1 out -<.> "org"
         need [src]
-        liftIO $ writeFile out $ unlines [
+        -- replace the generated top heading with our own so we can insert the TOC after it
+        let heading = dropExtension $ drop 1 out
+        mdlines <- drop 1 . lines . fromStdout <$> (cmd Shell pandoc fromorg towebmd src :: Action (Stdout String))
+        liftIO $ writeFile out $ unlines $ [
            "<!-- " ++ "Generated by \"Shake " ++ out ++ " from " ++ src ++ " -->"
+          ,""
+          ,"# " ++ heading
+          ,""
           ,"<div class=\"pagetoc\">"
           ,"<!-- toc -->"
           ,"</div>"
           ,""
-          ]
-        cmd_ Shell pandoc fromorg towebmd src ">>" out
+          ] ++ mdlines
+
+-- XXX try to style backlog items as unnumbered or nested-numbered list items
+{-
+<style>
+main>ol {
+  list-style: none;
+  padding-inline-start: 1em;
+  counter-reset: item;
+}
+/* XXX when there are subitems, pandoc wraps all in a <p>,
+ * which forces a line break after the :before text
+ */
+main>ol>li:before {
+  content: counters(item, ".") ". ";
+  counter-increment: item;
+}
+*/
+main>ol>li {
+}
+</style>
+-}
 
       -- MISC