diff --git a/pkg/renderer/sgml/attribute_substitution.go b/pkg/renderer/sgml/attribute_substitution.go
deleted file mode 100644
index 0ee8ce91..00000000
--- a/pkg/renderer/sgml/attribute_substitution.go
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,19 +0,0 @@
-package sgml
-
-import (
-	"github.com/bytesparadise/libasciidoc/pkg/renderer"
-	"github.com/bytesparadise/libasciidoc/pkg/types"
-)
-
-// TODO: deprecated?
-func (r *sgmlRenderer) renderAttributeSubstitution(ctx *renderer.Context, e *types.AttributeReference) (string, error) {
-	if v, found := ctx.Attributes[e.Name]; found {
-		switch v := v.(type) {
-		case string:
-			return v, nil
-		default:
-			return r.renderElement(ctx, v)
-		}
-	}
-	return "{" + e.Name + "}", nil
-}
diff --git a/pkg/renderer/sgml/elements.go b/pkg/renderer/sgml/elements.go
index 1f19b281..6daae20c 100644
--- a/pkg/renderer/sgml/elements.go
+++ b/pkg/renderer/sgml/elements.go
@@ -48,8 +48,6 @@ func (r *sgmlRenderer) renderListElements(ctx *renderer.Context, elements []inte
 func (r *sgmlRenderer) renderElement(ctx *renderer.Context, element interface{}) (string, error) {
 	// log.Debugf("rendering element of type `%T`", element)
 	switch e := element.(type) {
-	case []interface{}:
-		return r.renderElements(ctx, e)
 	case *types.TableOfContents:
 		return r.renderTableOfContents(ctx, e)
 	case *types.Section:
@@ -115,8 +113,6 @@ func (r *sgmlRenderer) renderElement(ctx *renderer.Context, element interface{})
 	case *types.FrontMatter:
 		ctx.Attributes.AddAll(e.Attributes)
 		return "", nil
-	case *types.AttributeReference:
-		return r.renderAttributeSubstitution(ctx, e)
 	default:
 		return "", errors.Errorf("unsupported type of element: %T", element)
 	}
diff --git a/pkg/renderer/sgml/html5/paragraph_test.go b/pkg/renderer/sgml/html5/paragraph_test.go
index 4e8214f4..07f35a3c 100644
--- a/pkg/renderer/sgml/html5/paragraph_test.go
+++ b/pkg/renderer/sgml/html5/paragraph_test.go
@@ -94,9 +94,9 @@ some content`
 		})
 
 		It("paragraph with predefined attribute", func() {
-			source := "hello {plus} world"
+			source := "hello{nbsp}{plus}{nbsp}world"
 			expected := `<div class="paragraph">
-<p>hello &#43; world</p>
+<p>hello&#160;&#43;&#160;world</p>
 </div>
 `
 			Expect(RenderHTML(source)).To(MatchHTML(expected))
diff --git a/pkg/renderer/sgml/html5/predefined_attribute.go b/pkg/renderer/sgml/html5/predefined_attribute.go
deleted file mode 100644
index bfa42d88..00000000
--- a/pkg/renderer/sgml/html5/predefined_attribute.go
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
-package html5
-
-const (
-	predefinedAttributeTmpl = `{{ predefinedAttribute .Name }}`
-)
diff --git a/pkg/renderer/sgml/html5/templates.go b/pkg/renderer/sgml/html5/templates.go
index 4a1a59fd..900c9de6 100644
--- a/pkg/renderer/sgml/html5/templates.go
+++ b/pkg/renderer/sgml/html5/templates.go
@@ -58,7 +58,6 @@ var templates = sgml.Templates{
 	PassthroughBlock:          passthroughBlock,
 	Paragraph:                 paragraphTmpl,
 	Preamble:                  preambleTmpl,
-	PredefinedAttribute:       predefinedAttributeTmpl,
 	QAndAList:                 qAndAListTmpl,
 	QAndAListItem:             qAndAListItemTmpl,
 	QuoteBlock:                quoteBlockTmpl,
diff --git a/pkg/renderer/sgml/predefined_attribute.go b/pkg/renderer/sgml/predefined_attribute.go
index 28d7f80c..7175be9d 100644
--- a/pkg/renderer/sgml/predefined_attribute.go
+++ b/pkg/renderer/sgml/predefined_attribute.go
@@ -1,21 +1,9 @@
 package sgml
 
 import (
-	"strings"
-
 	"github.com/bytesparadise/libasciidoc/pkg/types"
-	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 )
 
 func (r *sgmlRenderer) renderPredefinedAttribute(a *types.PredefinedAttribute) (string, error) {
-	result := &strings.Builder{}
-	if err := r.predefinedAttribute.Execute(result, struct {
-		Name string
-	}{
-		Name: a.Name,
-	}); err != nil {
-		return "", errors.Wrap(err, "error while rendering predefined attribute")
-	}
-	// log.Debugf("rendered predefined attribute for '%s': '%s'", a.Name, result.String())
-	return result.String(), nil
+	return predefinedAttribute(a.Name), nil
 }
diff --git a/pkg/renderer/sgml/predefined_attribute_test.go b/pkg/renderer/sgml/predefined_attribute_test.go
index ceb01685..104f270a 100644
--- a/pkg/renderer/sgml/predefined_attribute_test.go
+++ b/pkg/renderer/sgml/predefined_attribute_test.go
@@ -12,18 +12,18 @@ var _ = DescribeTable("predefined attributes",
 	Entry("sp", "sp", " "),
 	Entry("blank", "blank", ""),
 	Entry("empty", "empty", ""),
-	Entry("nbsp", "nbsp", "\u00a0"),
-	Entry("zwsp", "zwsp", "\u200b"),
-	Entry("wj", "wj", "\u2060"),
+	Entry("nbsp", "nbsp", "&#160;"),
+	Entry("zwsp", "zwsp", "&#8203;"),
+	Entry("wj", "wj", "&#8288;"),
 	Entry("apos", "apos", "&#39;"),
 	Entry("quot", "quot", "&#34;"),
-	Entry("lsquo", "lsquo", "\u2018"),
-	Entry("rsquo", "rsquo", "\u2019"),
-	Entry("ldquo", "ldquo", "\u201c"),
-	Entry("rdquo", "rdquo", "\u201d"),
-	Entry("deg", "deg", "\u00b0"),
-	Entry("plus", "plus", "+"),
-	Entry("brvbar", "brvbar", "\u00a6"),
+	Entry("lsquo", "lsquo", "&#8216;"),
+	Entry("rsquo", "rsquo", "&#8217;"),
+	Entry("ldquo", "ldquo", "&#8220;"),
+	Entry("rdquo", "rdquo", "&#8221;"),
+	Entry("deg", "deg", "&#176;"),
+	Entry("plus", "plus", "&#43;"),
+	Entry("brvbar", "brvbar", "&#166;"),
 	Entry("vbar", "vbar", "|"),
 	Entry("amp", "amp", "&"),
 	Entry("lt", "lt", "<"),
diff --git a/pkg/renderer/sgml/renderer.go b/pkg/renderer/sgml/renderer.go
index 24248407..dd073fbe 100644
--- a/pkg/renderer/sgml/renderer.go
+++ b/pkg/renderer/sgml/renderer.go
@@ -36,14 +36,13 @@ func NewRenderer(t Templates) Renderer {
 		templates: t,
 		// Establish some default function handlers.
 		functions: funcMap{
-			"escape":              EscapeString,
-			"trimRight":           trimRight,
-			"trimLeft":            trimLeft,
-			"trim":                trimBoth,
-			"predefinedAttribute": predefinedAttribute,
-			"halign":              halign,
-			"valign":              valign,
-			"lastInStrings":       lastInStrings,
+			"escape":        EscapeString,
+			"trimRight":     trimRight,
+			"trimLeft":      trimLeft,
+			"trim":          trimBoth,
+			"halign":        halign,
+			"valign":        valign,
+			"lastInStrings": lastInStrings,
 		},
 	}
 	return r
@@ -65,20 +64,20 @@ var predefinedAttributes = map[string]string{
 	"sp":             " ",
 	"blank":          "",
 	"empty":          "",
-	"nbsp":           "\u00a0",
-	"zwsp":           "\u200b",
-	"wj":             "\u2060",
+	"nbsp":           "&#160;",
+	"zwsp":           "&#8203;",
+	"wj":             "&#8288;",
 	"apos":           "&#39;",
 	"quot":           "&#34;",
-	"lsquo":          "\u2018",
-	"rsquo":          "\u2019",
-	"ldquo":          "\u201c",
-	"rdquo":          "\u201d",
-	"deg":            "\u00b0",
+	"lsquo":          "&#8216;",
+	"rsquo":          "&#8217;",
+	"ldquo":          "&#8220;",
+	"rdquo":          "&#8221;",
+	"deg":            "&#176;",
 	"plus":           "&#43;",
-	"brvbar":         "\u00a6",
+	"brvbar":         "&#166;",
 	"vbar":           "|", // TODO: maybe convert this because of tables?
-	"amp":            "&amp;",
+	"amp":            "&",
 	"lt":             "<",
 	"gt":             ">",
 	"startsb":        "[",
diff --git a/pkg/renderer/sgml/sgml_renderer.go b/pkg/renderer/sgml/sgml_renderer.go
index c375e48b..a32def42 100644
--- a/pkg/renderer/sgml/sgml_renderer.go
+++ b/pkg/renderer/sgml/sgml_renderer.go
@@ -58,7 +58,6 @@ type sgmlRenderer struct {
 	paragraph                 *textTemplate
 	passthroughBlock          *textTemplate
 	preamble                  *textTemplate
-	predefinedAttribute       *textTemplate
 	qAndAList                 *textTemplate
 	qAndAListItem             *textTemplate
 	quoteBlock                *textTemplate
@@ -141,7 +140,6 @@ func (r *sgmlRenderer) prepareTemplates() error {
 		r.paragraph, err = r.newTemplate("paragraph", tmpls.Paragraph, err)
 		r.passthroughBlock, err = r.newTemplate("passthrough", tmpls.PassthroughBlock, err)
 		r.preamble, err = r.newTemplate("preamble", tmpls.Preamble, err)
-		r.predefinedAttribute, err = r.newTemplate("predefined attribute", tmpls.PredefinedAttribute, err)
 		r.qAndAList, err = r.newTemplate("qanda-list", tmpls.QAndAList, err)
 		r.qAndAListItem, err = r.newTemplate("qanda-list-item", tmpls.QAndAListItem, err)
 		r.quoteBlock, err = r.newTemplate("quote-block", tmpls.QuoteBlock, err)
diff --git a/pkg/renderer/sgml/sgml_suite_test.go b/pkg/renderer/sgml/sgml_suite_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ce9c5d03
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/renderer/sgml/sgml_suite_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+package sgml_test
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	. "github.com/onsi/ginkgo"
+	. "github.com/onsi/gomega"
+)
+
+func TestSgml(t *testing.T) {
+	RegisterFailHandler(Fail)
+	RunSpecs(t, "Sgml Suite")
+}
diff --git a/pkg/renderer/sgml/templates.go b/pkg/renderer/sgml/templates.go
index 8e7e06bd..a266677b 100644
--- a/pkg/renderer/sgml/templates.go
+++ b/pkg/renderer/sgml/templates.go
@@ -51,7 +51,6 @@ type Templates struct {
 	Paragraph                 string
 	PassthroughBlock          string
 	Preamble                  string
-	PredefinedAttribute       string
 	QAndAList                 string
 	QAndAListItem             string
 	QuoteBlock                string