diff --git a/docs/usermanual-getting-started.xml b/docs/usermanual-getting-started.xml
index fda1e3b0a..cc867e07f 100644
--- a/docs/usermanual-getting-started.xml
+++ b/docs/usermanual-getting-started.xml
@@ -75,6 +75,9 @@
 
   <section>
     <title>Terminology</title>
+    <para>
+      
+    </para>
       <variablelist>
 	<?dbfo list-presentation="blocks"?> 
 	<varlistentry>
diff --git a/docs/usermanual-install-harfbuzz.xml b/docs/usermanual-install-harfbuzz.xml
index 53aa38d31..a885d00bb 100644
--- a/docs/usermanual-install-harfbuzz.xml
+++ b/docs/usermanual-install-harfbuzz.xml
@@ -57,8 +57,7 @@
     <para>
       For example, on an Ubuntu or Debian system, you would run:
       <programlisting>
-	<command>sudo apt install</command> <package>gcc g++
-	libfreetype6-dev libglib2.0-dev libcairo2-dev</package>
+	<command>sudo apt install</command> <package>gcc g++ libfreetype6-dev libglib2.0-dev libcairo2-dev</package>
       </programlisting>
       On Fedora, RHEL, CentOS, or other Red-Hat&ndash;based systems, you would run:
       <programlisting>
@@ -184,8 +183,7 @@
       <para>If you are
 	using MacPorts, you should run:
       <programlisting>
-	<command>sudo port install</command> <package>autoconf
-	automake libtool pkgconfig ragel gtk-doc</package> 
+	<command>sudo port install</command> <package>autoconf automake libtool pkgconfig ragel gtk-doc</package> 
       </programlisting>
       to install the build dependencies.
       </para>
@@ -231,7 +229,7 @@
       <variablelist>
 	<?dbfo list-presentation="blocks"?> 
 	<varlistentry>
-	  <term>--with-libstdc++</term>
+	  <term><command>--with-libstdc++</command></term>
 	  <listitem>
 	    <para>
 	      Allow linking with libstdc++. <emphasis>(Default = no)</emphasis>
@@ -244,7 +242,7 @@
 	</varlistentry>
 	
 	<varlistentry>
-	  <term>--with-glib</term>
+	  <term><command>--with-glib</command></term>
 	  <listitem>
 	    <para>
 	     Use <ulink url="https://developer.gnome.org/glib/">GLib</ulink>. <emphasis>(Default = auto)</emphasis>
@@ -260,7 +258,7 @@
 	</varlistentry>
 	
 	<varlistentry>
-	  <term>--with-gobject</term>
+	  <term><command>--with-gobject</command></term>
 	  <listitem>
 	    <para>
 	      Use <ulink url="https://developer.gnome.org/gobject/stable/">GObject</ulink>. <emphasis>(Default = no)</emphasis>
@@ -276,7 +274,7 @@
 	</varlistentry>
 	
 	<varlistentry>
-	  <term>--with-cairo</term>
+	  <term><command>--with-cairo</command></term>
 	  <listitem>
 	    <para>
 	      Use <ulink url="https://cairographics.org/">Cairo</ulink>. <emphasis>(Default = auto)</emphasis>
@@ -295,7 +293,7 @@
 	</varlistentry>
 	
 	<varlistentry>
-	  <term>--with-fontconfig</term>
+	  <term><command>--with-fontconfig</command></term>
 	  <listitem>
 	    <para>
 	      Use <ulink url="https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/fontconfig/">Fontconfig</ulink>. <emphasis>(Default = auto)</emphasis>
@@ -315,7 +313,7 @@
 	</varlistentry>
 	
 	<varlistentry>
-	  <term>--with-icu</term>
+	  <term><command>--with-icu</command></term>
 	  <listitem>
 	    <para>
 	      Use the <ulink url="http://site.icu-project.org/home">ICU</ulink> library. <emphasis>(Default = auto)</emphasis>
@@ -333,7 +331,7 @@
 	</varlistentry>
 	
 	<varlistentry>
-	  <term>--with-ucdn</term>
+	  <term><command>--with-ucdn</command></term>
 	  <listitem>
 	    <para>
 	      Use HarfBuzz's <ulink url="https://github.com/harfbuzz/harfbuzz/tree/master/src/hb-ucdn">built-in UCDN library</ulink>. <emphasis>(Default = auto)</emphasis>
@@ -351,7 +349,7 @@
 	</varlistentry>
 	
 	<varlistentry>
-	  <term>--with-graphite2</term>
+	  <term><command>--with-graphite2</command></term>
 	  <listitem>
 	    <para>
 	      Use the <ulink url="http://graphite.sil.org/">Graphite2</ulink> library. <emphasis>(Default = no)</emphasis>
@@ -365,7 +363,7 @@
 	</varlistentry>
 	
 	<varlistentry>
-	  <term>--with-freetype</term>
+	  <term><command>--with-freetype</command></term>
 	  <listitem>
 	    <para>
 	      Use the <ulink url="https://www.freetype.org/">FreeType</ulink> library. <emphasis>(Default = auto)</emphasis>
@@ -380,7 +378,7 @@
 	</varlistentry>
 	
 	<varlistentry>
-	  <term>--with-uniscribe</term>
+	  <term><command>--with-uniscribe</command></term>
 	  <listitem>
 	    <para>
 	      Use the <ulink
@@ -398,7 +396,7 @@
 	</varlistentry>
 	
 	<varlistentry>
-	  <term>--with-directwrite</term>
+	  <term><command>--with-directwrite</command></term>
 	  <listitem>
 	    <para>
 	      Use the <ulink url="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/desktop/directwrite/direct-write-portal">DirectWrite</ulink> library (experimental). <emphasis>(Default = no)</emphasis>
@@ -414,7 +412,7 @@
 	</varlistentry>
 	
 	<varlistentry>
-	  <term>--with-coretext</term>
+	  <term><command>--with-coretext</command></term>
 	  <listitem>
 	    <para>
 	      Use the <ulink url="https://developer.apple.com/documentation/coretext">CoreText</ulink> library. <emphasis>(Default = no)</emphasis>
diff --git a/docs/usermanual-what-is-harfbuzz.xml b/docs/usermanual-what-is-harfbuzz.xml
index 8532d7cc2..ed053f9ae 100644
--- a/docs/usermanual-what-is-harfbuzz.xml
+++ b/docs/usermanual-what-is-harfbuzz.xml
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
   <para>
     HarfBuzz can properly shape all of the world's major writing
     systems. It runs on all major operating systems and software
-    platforms and it supports the modern font formats in use
+    platforms and it supports the major font formats in use
     today.
   </para>
   <section id="what-is-text-shaping">
@@ -48,7 +48,8 @@
       url="http://www.microsoft.com/typography/otspec/">OpenType</ulink>. The
     OpenType specification defines a series of <ulink url="https://github.com/n8willis/opentype-shaping-documents">shaping models</ulink> for
     various scripts from around the world. These shaping models depend on
-    the font including certain features in its <literal>GSUB</literal>
+    the font incorporating certain features as
+    <emphasis>lookups</emphasis> in its <literal>GSUB</literal> 
     and <literal>GPOS</literal> tables.
     </para>
     <para>
@@ -65,7 +66,7 @@
       Text strings will usually be tagged with a script and language
       tag that provide the context needed to perform text shaping
       correctly.  The necessary <ulink
-      url="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/typography/opentype/spec/scripttags">Script</ulink> 
+      url="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/typography/opentype/spec/scripttags">script</ulink> 
       and <ulink
       url="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/typography/opentype/spec/languagetags">language</ulink>
       tags are defined by OpenType.
@@ -126,8 +127,8 @@
         <para>
           Many OpenType fonts contain ligatures: combinations of
           characters that are rendered as a single unit. For instance,
-	  it is common for the <literal>fi</literal> letter
-	  combination to appear in print as the single ligature glyph
+	  it is common for the &quot;f, i&quot; letter
+	  sequence to appear in print as the single ligature glyph
 	  &quot;fi&quot;.
 	</para>
 	<para>