diff --git a/packages/nuemark/src/parse-blocks.js b/packages/nuemark/src/parse-blocks.js
index 9aa1ef33..5cdd5e34 100644
--- a/packages/nuemark/src/parse-blocks.js
+++ b/packages/nuemark/src/parse-blocks.js
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ export function parseBlocks(lines, capture) {
     // tag
     if (c == '[' && trimmed.endsWith(']') && !trimmed.includes('][')) {
       const tag = parseTag(line.slice(1, -1))
-      block = { is_tag: true, ...tag, body: [] }
+      block = { is_tag: true, ...tag, name: tag.name || 'div', body: [] }
       return blocks.push(block)
     }
 
@@ -182,7 +182,9 @@ function processNestedBlocks(block, capture) {
     const body = block.body.join('\n')
 
     try {
-      if (body && name && isYAML(body.trim())) {
+      // TODO: add additional check for native html tags
+      // maybe new syntax? e.g. `[yaml-tag]:\n\thi` (note colon)
+      if (body && isYAML(body.trim())) {
         let data = parseYAML(body)
         if (Array.isArray(data)) data = { items: data }
         Object.assign(block.data, data)
diff --git a/packages/nuemark/src/parse-inline.js b/packages/nuemark/src/parse-inline.js
index f32acc53..3b1e816f 100644
--- a/packages/nuemark/src/parse-inline.js
+++ b/packages/nuemark/src/parse-inline.js
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ const PARSERS = [
       // parse tag
       const tag = parseTag(str.slice(1, i).trim())
       const { name } = tag
-      const is_footnote = name[0] == '^'
+      const is_footnote = name && name[0] == '^'
       const end = i + 1
 
       // footnote?
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ const PARSERS = [
       }
 
       // normal tag
-      if (name == '!' || isValidName(name)) return { is_tag: true, ...tag, end }
+      if (!name || name == '!' || isValidName(name)) return { is_inline: true, is_tag: true, ...tag, name: tag.name || 'span', end }
 
       return { text: c }
     }
diff --git a/packages/nuemark/src/render-tag.js b/packages/nuemark/src/render-tag.js
index eef01463..21716c77 100644
--- a/packages/nuemark/src/render-tag.js
+++ b/packages/nuemark/src/render-tag.js
@@ -6,6 +6,17 @@ import { elem } from './render-blocks.js'
 import { readFileSync } from 'node:fs'
 import { join } from 'node:path'
 
+// mostly the same as first block from <../../nuejs/src/fn.js>, but excludes: html, head
+const HTML_TAGS = 'a abbr acronym address applet area article aside audio b base basefont bdi bdo big\
+ blockquote body br button canvas caption center circle cite clipPath code col colgroup data datalist\
+ dd defs del details dfn dialog dir div dl dt ellipse em embed fieldset figcaption figure font footer\
+ foreignObject form frame frameset g header hgroup h1 h2 h3 h4 h5 h6 hr i iframe image img\
+ input ins kbd keygen label legend li line link main map mark marker mask menu menuitem meta meter\
+ nav noframes noscript object ol optgroup option output p param path pattern picture polygon polyline\
+ pre progress q rect rp rt ruby s samp script section select small source span strike strong style sub\
+ summary sup svg switch symbol table tbody td template text textarea textPath tfoot th thead time\
+ title tr track tspan tt u ul use var video wbr'.split(' ')
+
 
 // built-in tags
 const TAGS = {
@@ -22,22 +33,14 @@ const TAGS = {
   },
 
   block() {
-    const { render, attr, blocks } = this
+    const { render, attr, data, blocks, name } = this
     const divs = sectionize(blocks)
 
     const html = !divs || !divs[1] ? render(blocks) :
       divs.map(blocks => elem('div', render(blocks))).join('\n')
 
-    return elem(attr.popover ? 'dialog' : 'div', attr, html)
-  },
-
-
-  button(data) {
-    const { href } = data
-    const label = this.renderInline(data.label || data._) || this.innerHTML || ''
-
-    return href ? elem('a', { ...this.attr, href, role: 'button' }, label) :
-      elem('button', this.attr, label)
+    if (this.to_block) Object.assign(attr, data)
+    return elem(attr.popover ? 'dialog' : name, attr, html)
   },
 
   define() {
@@ -52,7 +55,6 @@ const TAGS = {
     return html && elem('dl', this.attr, html.join('\n'))
   },
 
-
   image() {
     const { attr, data } = this
     const { caption, href, loading = 'lazy' } = data
@@ -74,6 +76,15 @@ const TAGS = {
     return elem('figure', attr, img)
   },
 
+  inline() {
+    const { name, attr, data, opts } = this
+
+    const content = data._
+    delete data._
+    if (this.to_inline) Object.assign(attr, data)
+
+    return elem(name, attr, this.renderInline(content, opts))
+  },
 
   list() {
     const items = this.sections || getListItems(this.blocks)
@@ -109,7 +120,6 @@ const TAGS = {
     return elem('video', attr, this.innerHTML)
   },
 
-
   // shortcut
   '!': function() {
     const tag = getMimeType(this.data._).startsWith('video') ? TAGS.video : TAGS.image
@@ -142,9 +152,22 @@ export function renderIcon(name, symbol, icon_dir) {
 
 export function renderTag(tag, opts = {}) {
   const tags = { ...TAGS, ...opts.tags }
-  const fn = tags[tag.name || 'block']
+  const tag_fn = tag.to_block ? 'block' : tag.to_inline ? 'inline' : tag.name
+  const fn = tags[tag_fn]
+
+  if (!fn) {
+    // native html tags
+    if (HTML_TAGS.includes(tag.name)) {
+      // inline / block without blocks
+      if (tag.is_inline || !tag.blocks?.length) tag.to_inline = true
+      // block
+      else tag.to_block = true
+
+      return renderTag(tag)
+    }
 
-  if (!fn) return renderIsland(tag, opts.data)
+    return renderIsland(tag, opts.data)
+  }
 
   const data = { ...opts.data, ...extractData(tag.data, opts.data) }
 
@@ -307,4 +330,4 @@ export function parseTable(lines) {
   })
 
   return { rows, ...specs }
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
diff --git a/packages/nuemark/test/block.test.js b/packages/nuemark/test/block.test.js
index bd43c492..844f5479 100644
--- a/packages/nuemark/test/block.test.js
+++ b/packages/nuemark/test/block.test.js
@@ -30,6 +30,60 @@ test('nested lists', () => {
 })
 
 
+test('block html tag including non-html tag', () => {
+  const { blocks } = parseBlocks(['[section.hi]', '  content', '  [subtag "data"]'])
+  const parent = blocks[0]
+  expect(blocks.length).toBe(1)
+  expect(parent.is_tag).toBe(true)
+  expect(parent.attr.class).toBe('hi')
+  expect(parent.blocks.length).toBe(2)
+  const children = blocks[0].blocks
+  expect(children[0].is_content).toBe(true)
+  expect(children[1].is_tag).toBe(true)
+  expect(children[1].data).toEqual({ _: "data" })
+
+  const html = renderBlocks(blocks)
+  expect(html).toStartWith('<section class="hi"><p>content</p>')
+  expect(html).toInclude('<subtag custom="subtag"><script type="application/json">{"_":"data"}</script></subtag>')
+  expect(html).toEndWith('</section>')
+})
+
+test('block html tag without children with content', () => {
+  const { blocks } = parseBlocks(['[section "content"]', 'no content'])
+  expect(blocks.length).toBe(2)
+
+  const html = renderBlocks(blocks)
+  expect(html).toBe('<section>content</section>\n<p>no content</p>')
+})
+
+test('block html tag with starting ul', () => {
+  const { blocks } = parseBlocks(['[div]', '  - hi', '  - hello'])
+  expect(blocks.length).toBe(1)
+  expect(blocks[0].blocks.length).toBe(1)
+
+  const html = renderBlocks(blocks)
+  expect(html).toBe('<div><ul><li>hi</li>\n<li>hello</li></ul></div>')
+})
+
+test('inlined block html with attrs', () => {
+  const { blocks } = parseBlocks(['[div myattr="data" "content"]'])
+  console.log(blocks)
+  expect(blocks.length).toBe(1)
+  expect(blocks[0].data).toEqual({ myattr: 'data', _: 'content' })
+
+  const html = renderBlocks(blocks)
+  expect(html).toBe('<div myattr="data">content</div>')
+})
+
+test('block html with attrs', () => {
+  const { blocks } = parseBlocks(['[div myattr="data" "not content"]', '  content'])
+  expect(blocks.length).toBe(1)
+  expect(blocks[0].data).toEqual({ myattr: 'data', _: "not content" })
+
+  const html = renderBlocks(blocks)
+  expect(html).toBe('<div myattr="data" _="not content"><p>content</p></div>')
+})
+
 test('nested tag data', () => {
   const { blocks } = parseBlocks(['[hello]', '', '', '  foo: bar', '', '  bro: 10'])
   expect(blocks[0].data).toEqual({ foo: "bar", bro: 10 })
diff --git a/packages/nuemark/test/inline.test.js b/packages/nuemark/test/inline.test.js
index 7524c912..72c1d0d9 100644
--- a/packages/nuemark/test/inline.test.js
+++ b/packages/nuemark/test/inline.test.js
@@ -217,6 +217,42 @@ test('parse simple image', () => {
   expect(img.href).toBe('yo.svg')
 })
 
+// anonymous tag
+test('inline span', () => {
+  const html = renderInline('hello [.green "world"]!')
+  expect(html).toBe('hello <span class="green">world</span>!')
+})
+
+test('empty inline span', () => {
+  const html = renderInline('[.myclass#myid]')
+  expect(html).toStartWith('<span ')
+  expect(html).toInclude('class="myclass"')
+  expect(html).toInclude('id="myid"')
+  expect(html).toEndWith('></span>')
+})
+
+test('inline html with attrs', () => {
+  const md = '[span myattr="data" "content"]'
+  const [tag] = parseInline(md)
+  expect(tag.data).toEqual({ myattr: 'data', _: 'content' })
+
+  const html = renderInline(md)
+  expect(html).toBe('<span myattr="data">content</span>')
+})
+
+// named default html tag
+test('inline html tag', () => {
+  const html = renderInline('[b "*content*"]')
+  expect(html).toBe('<b><em>content</em></b>')
+})
+
+test('empty inline html tag', () =>  {
+  const html = renderInline('[del.pink.border#myid]')
+  expect(html).toStartWith('<del ')
+  expect(html).toInclude('id="myid"')
+  expect(html).toInclude('class="pink border"')
+  expect(html).toEndWith('></del>')
+})
 
 // parse tags and args
 test('inline tag', () => {
@@ -228,6 +264,7 @@ test('inline tag with reflink', () => {
   const els = parseInline('[tip] and [link][foo]')
   const [ tag, and, link] = els
   expect(tag.is_tag).toBeTrue()
+  expect(tag.name).toBe('tip')
   expect(link.is_reflink).toBeTrue()
 })
 
diff --git a/packages/nuemark/test/tag.test.js b/packages/nuemark/test/tag.test.js
index 69fddc2e..5d9581fe 100644
--- a/packages/nuemark/test/tag.test.js
+++ b/packages/nuemark/test/tag.test.js
@@ -213,12 +213,12 @@ test('[table] empty cells', () => {
 
 test('[button] inline label', () => {
   const html = renderLines(['[button href="/" "Hey, *world*"]'])
-  expect(html).toBe('<a href="/" role="button">Hey, <em>world</em></a>')
+  expect(html).toBe('<button href="/">Hey, <em>world</em></button>')
 })
 
 test('[button] nested label', () => {
   const html = renderLines(['[button href=/]', '  ![](/joku.png)'])
-  expect(html).toStartWith('<a href="/" role="button"><img src="/joku.png"')
+  expect(html).toStartWith('<button href="/"><p><img src="/joku.png"')
 })
 
 
@@ -265,7 +265,7 @@ test('[svg]', () => {
 
 test('[svg] nested in [button]', () => {
   const html = renderLines(['[button href="/"]', `  [svg ${svgpath}] *Yo*`])
-  expect(html).toBe('<a href="/" role="button"><svg class="icon"/> <em>Yo</em></a>')
+  expect(html).toBe('<button href="/"><p><svg class="icon"/> <em>Yo</em></p></button>')
 })