diff --git a/site/layouts/shortcodes/bs-table.html b/site/layouts/shortcodes/bs-table.html
index 40b9b8ce56..42a18d5782 100644
--- a/site/layouts/shortcodes/bs-table.html
+++ b/site/layouts/shortcodes/bs-table.html
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 {{- /*
-  Usage: `bs-table "class class-foo"`,
-  where class can be anything
+  Usage: `bs-table "class class-foo"`, where class can be any string
 */ -}}
 
 {{- $css_class := .Get 0 | default "table" -}}
diff --git a/site/layouts/shortcodes/callout.html b/site/layouts/shortcodes/callout.html
index 007f8a8e8e..86683ecf4c 100644
--- a/site/layouts/shortcodes/callout.html
+++ b/site/layouts/shortcodes/callout.html
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 {{- /*
-  Usage: `callout "type"`,
-  where type is one of info (default), danger, warning
+  Usage: `callout "type"`, where `type` is one of info (default), danger, or warning
 */ -}}
 
 {{- $css_class := .Get 0 | default "info" -}}
diff --git a/site/layouts/shortcodes/example.html b/site/layouts/shortcodes/example.html
index fd20839cbe..65cd5a9f33 100644
--- a/site/layouts/shortcodes/example.html
+++ b/site/layouts/shortcodes/example.html
@@ -1,20 +1,22 @@
 {{- /*
-  Usage: `example [args]`
+  Usage: `example args`
 
-  `args` are optional and can be one of the following:
-    id: the `div`'s id - default: ""
-    class: any extra class(es) to be added to the `div` - default ""
-    show_preview: if the preview should be output in the HTML - default: `true`
-    show_markup: if the markup should be output in the HTML - default: `true`
+  `args` are all optional and can be one of the following:
+    * id: the `div`'s id - default: ""
+    * class: any extra class(es) to be added to the `div` - default: ""
+    * show_preview: if the preview should be output in the HTML - default: `true`
+    * show_markup: if the markup should be output in the HTML - default: `true`
 */ -}}
 
+{{- $id := .Get "id" -}}
+{{- $class := .Get "class" -}}
 {{- $lang := .Get "lang" | default "html" -}}
 {{- $show_preview := .Get "show_preview" | default true -}}
 {{- $show_markup := .Get "show_markup" | default true -}}
 {{- $input := .Inner -}}
 
 {{- if eq $show_preview true -}}
-<div{{ with .Get "id" }} id="{{ . }}"{{ end }} class="bd-example{{ with .Get "class" }} {{ . }}{{ end }}">
+<div{{ with $id }} id="{{ . }}"{{ end }} class="bd-example{{ with $class }} {{ . }}{{ end }}">
   {{- $input -}}
 </div>
 {{- end -}}
diff --git a/site/layouts/shortcodes/param.html b/site/layouts/shortcodes/param.html
index 50e2060ae2..34ad00c87a 100644
--- a/site/layouts/shortcodes/param.html
+++ b/site/layouts/shortcodes/param.html
@@ -1,11 +1,13 @@
 {{- /*
   Work around wrong escapes in integrity attributes.
+  Original: https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/blob/master/tpl/tplimpl/embedded/templates/shortcodes/param.html
 */ -}}
 
 {{- $name := .Get 0 -}}
 {{- with $name -}}
 {{- $value := $.Page.Param . -}}
-{{- if in $name "_hash" -}}
+{{- /* If any parameter ends with `_hash`, mark the string as safe HTML */ -}}
+{{- if (strings.HasSuffix $name "_hash") -}}
   {{- $value = $value | safeHTML -}}
 {{- end -}}
 {{- with $value }}{{ . }}{{ else }}{{ errorf "Param %q not found: %s" $name $.Position }}{{ end -}}
diff --git a/site/layouts/shortcodes/placeholder.html b/site/layouts/shortcodes/placeholder.html
index 2373bc9274..c267bf4a75 100644
--- a/site/layouts/shortcodes/placeholder.html
+++ b/site/layouts/shortcodes/placeholder.html
@@ -1,21 +1,24 @@
 {{- /*
   Usage: `placeholder args`
 
-  args can be one of the following:
-    title: Used in the SVG `title` tag, default "Placeholder"
-    text: The text to show in the image - default: "width x height"
-    class: default: "bd-placeholder-img"
-    color: The text color (foreground) - default: "#dee2e6"
-    background: The background color - default: "#868e96"
-    width: default: 100%
-    height: default: 180px
+  `args` are all optional and can be one of the following:
+    * title: Used in the SVG `title` tag - default: "Placeholder"
+    * text: The text to show in the image - default: "width x height"
+    * class: Class to add to the `svg` - default: "bd-placeholder-img"
+    * color: The text color (foreground) - default: "#dee2e6"
+    * background: The background color - default: "#868e96"
+    * width: default: "100%"
+    * height: default: "180px"
 */ -}}
 
 {{- $grays := $.Site.Data.grays -}}
+{{- $default_color := (index $grays 2).hex -}}
+{{- $default_background := (index $grays 5).hex -}}
+
 {{- $title := .Get "title" | default "Placeholder" -}}
 {{- $class := .Get "class" -}}
-{{- $color := .Get "color" | default (index $grays 2).hex -}}
-{{- $background := .Get "background" | default (index $grays 5).hex -}}
+{{- $color := .Get "color" | default $default_color -}}
+{{- $background := .Get "background" | default $default_background -}}
 {{- $width := .Get "width" | default "100%" -}}
 {{- $height := .Get "height" | default "180" -}}
 {{- $text := .Get "text" | default (printf "%sx%s" $width $height) -}}
@@ -24,7 +27,7 @@
 {{- $show_text := not (eq $text "false") -}}
 
 <svg class="bd-placeholder-img{{ with $class }} {{ . }}{{ end }}" width="{{ $width }}" height="{{ $height }}" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"{{ if (or $show_title $show_text) }} role="img" aria-label="{{ if $show_title }}{{ $title }}{{ if $show_text }}: {{ end }}{{ end }}{{ if ($show_text) }}{{ $text }}{{ end }}"{{ else }} aria-hidden="true"{{ end }} preserveAspectRatio="xMidYMid slice" focusable="false">
-  {{- if $show_title -}}<title>{{ $title }}</title>{{- end -}}
+  {{- if $show_title }}<title>{{ $title }}</title>{{ end -}}
   <rect width="100%" height="100%" fill="{{ $background }}"/>
-  {{- if $show_text -}}<text x="50%" y="50%" fill="{{ $color }}" dy=".3em">{{ $text }}</text>{{- end -}}
+  {{- if $show_text }}<text x="50%" y="50%" fill="{{ $color }}" dy=".3em">{{ $text }}</text>{{ end -}}
 </svg>
diff --git a/site/layouts/shortcodes/table.html b/site/layouts/shortcodes/table.html
index 43f230ab84..a98b5eb899 100644
--- a/site/layouts/shortcodes/table.html
+++ b/site/layouts/shortcodes/table.html
@@ -2,27 +2,28 @@
   Usage: `table [args]`
 
   `args` are optional and can be one of the following:
-  class: any class(es) to be added to the `table` - default ""
-  simplified: show a simplified version in the examples - default `true`
+    * class: any class(es) to be added to the `table` - default ""
+    * simplified: show a simplified version in the examples - default `true`
 */ -}}
 
+{{- $class := .Get "class" -}}
 {{- $simplified := .Get "simplified" | default true -}}
 
 {{- $table_attributes := "" -}}
 {{- $table_content := "  ...\n" -}}
 
-{{- with .Get "class" -}}
-{{- $table_attributes = printf ` class="%s"` . -}}
+{{- with $class -}}
+  {{- $table_attributes = printf ` class="%s"` . -}}
 {{- end -}}
 
 {{- if eq $simplified "false" -}}
-{{- $table_content = partialCached "table-content" . -}}
+  {{- $table_content = partialCached "table-content" . -}}
 {{- end -}}
 
 {{- $table := printf "<table%s>\n%s</table>" $table_attributes $table_content -}}
 
 <div class="bd-example">
-  <table{{ with .Get "class" }} class="{{ . }}"{{ end }}>
+  <table{{ with $class }} class="{{ . }}"{{ end }}>
     {{ partialCached "table-content" . }}
   </table>
 </div>
diff --git a/site/layouts/shortcodes/year.html b/site/layouts/shortcodes/year.html
index bc9dd300d1..db7f18e3fc 100644
--- a/site/layouts/shortcodes/year.html
+++ b/site/layouts/shortcodes/year.html
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-{{- /*
-  Output the current year
-*/ -}}
+{{- /* Outputs the current year */ -}}
 
 {{- now.Format "2006" -}}