diff --git a/src/equilibrium/blog.clj b/src/equilibrium/blog.clj
index ec45296..f4ee28a 100644
--- a/src/equilibrium/blog.clj
+++ b/src/equilibrium/blog.clj
@@ -70,3 +70,28 @@
           :let [target (site->target-file config output-root site)]]
     (spit target
           (fill-in-fn site))))
+
+(defn sites-preview [sites]
+  (reduce (fn [res site]
+            (let [content (:content site)
+                  divider-pos (string/index-of content "<p><blink></p>")
+                  length (count content)
+                  end (or divider-pos length)
+                  pre-content (subs content 0 end)
+                  article-link (str "<a href=\""
+                                    (:link site)
+                                    "\">"
+                                    "↪"
+                                    (when divider-pos "…")
+                                    "</a>")]
+              (str res
+                   "<article>"
+                   pre-content
+                   "<p class=\"article-link\">"
+                   article-link
+                   "</p>"
+                   "</article>")))
+          ""
+          (take-last
+           5
+           (reverse sites))))
diff --git a/src/equilibrium/core.clj b/src/equilibrium/core.clj
index df5ee30..d6fff8e 100644
--- a/src/equilibrium/core.clj
+++ b/src/equilibrium/core.clj
@@ -11,3 +11,10 @@
       .toPath
       .getFileName
       .toString))
+
+(defn env-val [env-name]
+  (let [env-val (System/getenv env-name)]
+    (when (= nil env-val)
+      (throw (ex-info (str "env var not found " env-name)
+                      {:env-var env-name})))
+    env-val))
diff --git a/src/equilibrium/render.clj b/src/equilibrium/render.clj
index bef6a7a..8b3520c 100644
--- a/src/equilibrium/render.clj
+++ b/src/equilibrium/render.clj
@@ -25,22 +25,6 @@
 (defn index-template []
   (slurp (str input-root "/index.html")))
 
-(comment
-  (defn navcode [sites]
-    (let [sorted-sites (sort-by #(core/filename %) sites)
-          clean-file-name-fn #(core/clean-name (core/filename %))
-          nav-line-fn #(str "<li>"
-                            "<a href=\""
-                            (clean-file-name-fn %)
-                            ".html\">"
-                            (clean-file-name-fn %)
-                            "</a></li>")]
-      (str "<ol>"
-           (reduce #(str %1 (nav-line-fn %2))
-                   ""
-                   sorted-sites)
-           "</ol>"))))
-
 (defn site-destination [filename]
   (str output-root
        "/"
@@ -129,36 +113,8 @@
 (comment
   (particle-content "aside"))
 
-(defn blog-sites-preview [blog-name]
-  (reduce (fn [res site]
-            (let [content (:content site)
-                  divider-pos (string/index-of content "<p><blink></p>")
-                  length (count content)
-                  end (or divider-pos length)
-                  pre-content (subs content 0 end)
-                  article-link (str "<a href=\""
-                                    (:link site)
-                                    "\">"
-                                    "↪"
-                                    (when divider-pos
-                                      "…")
-                                    "</a>")]
-              (str res
-                   "<article>"
-                   pre-content
-                   "<p class=\"article-link\">"
-                   article-link
-                   "</p>"
-                   "</article>")))
-          ""
-          (->> blog-name
-               blog-sites
-               (take-last 5)
-               reverse)))
-
 (defn fill-in-placeholders [html page]
   (let [simple (-> html
-                   ;; (string/replace #"&:nav" (:navcode context ""))
                    (string/replace #"&:content" (:content page ""))
                    (string/replace #"&:title" (get-in page [:metadata :title] ""))
                    (string/replace #"&:generated-at" (now-str)))
@@ -171,18 +127,14 @@
                        (first particle)
                        (particle-content (second particle))))
         blog-sites-fn (fn [result [match-str blog-name]]
-                        (string/replace
-                         result
-                         match-str
-                         (blog-sites-preview blog-name)))
+                        (let [sites (blog-sites blog-name)]
+                          (string/replace result
+                                          match-str
+                                          (blog/sites-preview sites))))
         envs-fn (fn [result [match-str env-name]]
-                  (when (= nil (System/getenv env-name))
-                    (throw (ex-info (str "env var not found " env-name)
-                                    {:env-var env-name
-                                     :match-str match-str})))
                   (string/replace result
                                   match-str
-                                  (System/getenv env-name)))]
+                                  (core/env-val env-name)))]
     (as-> simple $
       (reduce particle-fn $ particles)
       (reduce blog-sites-fn $ last-blog-sites)