diff --git a/layouts/shortcodes/blocks/lead.html b/layouts/shortcodes/blocks/lead.html
index bae22630d6..5f30b516d0 100644
--- a/layouts/shortcodes/blocks/lead.html
+++ b/layouts/shortcodes/blocks/lead.html
@@ -1,16 +1,17 @@
-{{ $_hugo_config := `{ "version": 1 }` -}}
 {{ $col_id := .Get "color" | default .Ordinal -}}
 {{ $height := .Get "height" | default "auto" -}}
-{{/* Height can be one of: auto, min, med, max, full. */ -}}
+{{ with .Get "height" -}}
+  {{ if not ( or ( eq . "auto" ) ( eq . "min" ) ( eq . "med" ) ( eq . "max" ) ( eq . "full" ) ) -}}
+    {{ errorf "shortcode 'lead': parameter height is '%s', must be one of 'auto', 'min', 'med', 'max' or 'full'." . -}}
+  {{ end -}}
+{{ end -}}
 <a id="td-block-{{ .Ordinal }}" class="td-offset-anchor"></a>
 <section class="row td-box td-box--{{ $col_id }} position-relative td-box--height-{{ $height }}">
-	<div class="container text-center td-arrow-down">
-		<div class="h4 mb-0">
-			{{ if eq .Page.File.Ext "md" -}}
-				{{ .Inner | markdownify -}}
-			{{ else -}}
-				{{ .Inner | htmlUnescape | safeHTML -}}
-			{{ end -}}
-		</div>
-	</div>
+<div class="container text-center td-arrow-down">
+<div class="h4 mb-0">
+{{/* Do NOT remove this comment! It ends above HTML block. See https://spec.commonmark.org/0.30/#html-blocks, 7. */}}
+{{ .Inner -}}
+</div>
+</div>
 </section>
+{{/**/ -}}
diff --git a/userguide/content/en/_index.html b/userguide/content/en/_index.html
index 163ac94af6..6d0826b38d 100644
--- a/userguide/content/en/_index.html
+++ b/userguide/content/en/_index.html
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 </div>
 {{< /blocks/cover >}}
 
-{{% blocks/lead color="primary" %}}
+{{< blocks/lead color="primary" >}}
 Docsy is a theme for the Hugo static site generator that's specifically designed
 for technical documentation sets. Our aim is to help you get a working
 documentation site up and running as easily as possible, so you can concentrate
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@
 <a href="https://www.netlify.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
   <img src="https://www.netlify.com/img/global/badges/netlify-color-accent.svg" alt="Deploys by Netlify" />
 </a>
-{{% /blocks/lead %}}
+{{< /blocks/lead >}}
 
 {{< blocks/section color="dark" type="features">}}
 {{% blocks/feature icon="fa-lightbulb" title="See Docsy in action!" url="/docs/examples/" %}}
diff --git a/userguide/content/en/docs/adding-content/shortcodes/index.md b/userguide/content/en/docs/adding-content/shortcodes/index.md
index 6459fda71d..c95037d490 100644
--- a/userguide/content/en/docs/adding-content/shortcodes/index.md
+++ b/userguide/content/en/docs/adding-content/shortcodes/index.md
@@ -82,10 +82,12 @@ Runs on **bare metal** in the **cloud**!
 {{%/* /blocks/lead */%}}
 ```
 
-| Parameter        | Default    | Description  |
-| ---------------- |------------| ------------|
-| height | | See above.
-| color | | See above.
+Use the syntax printed above if the inner content of your `/blocks/lead` shortcode is authored in markdown. In case of HTML content, use square brackets `<>` as innermost delimiters: `{{</* blocks/lead >}}<b>HTML</b> content{{< /blocks/lead */>}}`.
+
+| Parameter | Default  | Description                     |
+| --------- |--------- | ------------------------------- |
+| height    | `auto`   | [See above.](#shortcode-blocks) |
+| color     | .Ordinal | [See above.](#shortcode-blocks) |
 
 ### blocks/section