diff --git a/src/blocks.xsl b/src/blocks.xsl
index c4f3e16..acfca21 100644
--- a/src/blocks.xsl
+++ b/src/blocks.xsl
@@ -99,18 +99,27 @@ version="3.0">
     <xsl:template name="rdfae:replace-rendering">
         <xsl:param name="island" as="element()"/>
         <xsl:param name="content" as="node()*"/>
-        <xsl:for-each select="$island/*[@data-role = 'rendering']">
-            <xsl:sequence select="ixsl:call(., 'remove', [])[current-date() lt xs:date('2000-01-01')]"/>
-        </xsl:for-each>
-        <xsl:variable name="rendering" as="element()" select="rdfae:element('div')"/>
-        <xsl:for-each select="$rendering">
-            <ixsl:set-attribute name="data-role" select="'rendering'"/>
-        </xsl:for-each>
-        <!-- html method: XML's self-closing tags read as OPEN tags to the HTML
-             fragment parser and swallow following siblings -->
-        <ixsl:set-property name="innerHTML"
-            select="serialize($content, map{ 'method': 'html' })" object="$rendering"/>
-        <xsl:sequence select="ixsl:call($island, 'appendChild', [ $rendering ])[current-date() lt xs:date('2000-01-01')]"/>
+        <xsl:variable name="rendering" as="element()">
+            <div data-role="rendering">
+                <xsl:copy-of select="$content"/>
+            </div>
+        </xsl:variable>
+        <xsl:choose>
+            <xsl:when test="$island/*[@data-role = 'rendering']">
+                <xsl:for-each select="($island/*[@data-role = 'rendering'])[1]">
+                    <xsl:result-document href="?." method="ixsl:replace-element">
+                        <xsl:copy-of select="$rendering"/>
+                    </xsl:result-document>
+                </xsl:for-each>
+            </xsl:when>
+            <xsl:otherwise>
+                <xsl:for-each select="$island">
+                    <xsl:result-document href="?." method="ixsl:append-content">
+                        <xsl:copy-of select="$rendering"/>
+                    </xsl:result-document>
+                </xsl:for-each>
+            </xsl:otherwise>
+        </xsl:choose>
     </xsl:template>
 
     <!-- ............................ extension hooks ............................ -->
diff --git a/src/edit.xsl b/src/edit.xsl
index 9954b63..d4c9019 100644
--- a/src/edit.xsl
+++ b/src/edit.xsl
@@ -379,6 +379,16 @@ version="3.0">
     <xsl:template name="rdfae:init-region">
         <xsl:param name="region" as="element()"/>
 
+        <!-- the region is the canvas' focusable floor. Only leaf text hosts are
+             contenteditable, so the surface between them - sibling margins, the
+             handle gutter, a structural container's own box, chrome on a structural
+             block - has no focusable ancestor at all, and a press there drops focus
+             out of the editor entirely (which hosts read as leaving it, and a press
+             on a drag handle cannot preventDefault without killing dragstart). With
+             tabindex the region absorbs that focus instead: same idiom as the block
+             images and object-block islands in rdfae:init-block, out of the tab
+             order, and stripped by the canonical form -->
+        <ixsl:set-attribute name="tabindex" select="'-1'" object="$region"/>
         <!-- boundary-normalize invalid host markup (bare text in blockquote,
              blocks inside p, stray inline at region level, ...) before
              editability init; the probe keeps the valid case zero-churn -->
@@ -390,8 +400,11 @@ version="3.0">
         <xsl:if test="$invalid">
             <xsl:variable name="fixed" as="node()*"
                 select="cm:wrap-inline-runs(cm:normalize($region/node()), 'p')"/>
-            <ixsl:set-property name="innerHTML"
-                select="serialize($fixed, map{ 'method': 'html' })" object="$region"/>
+            <xsl:for-each select="$region">
+                <xsl:result-document href="?." method="ixsl:replace-content">
+                    <xsl:copy-of select="$fixed"/>
+                </xsl:result-document>
+            </xsl:for-each>
         </xsl:if>
         <!-- an empty region cannot hold a caret: seed a paragraph (the
              empty-blockquote idiom in rdfae:init-block) -->
@@ -1651,19 +1664,12 @@ version="3.0">
                     <xsl:with-param name="host" select="$host"/>
                     <xsl:with-param name="range" select="$range"/>
                 </xsl:call-template>
-                <!-- method html: XML's self-closing <p/> reads as an OPEN tag to the
-                     HTML fragment parser and swallows following siblings -->
-                <xsl:variable name="stage" as="element()" select="rdfae:element('div')"/>
-                <ixsl:set-property name="innerHTML" select="serialize($blocks, map{ 'method': 'html' })" object="$stage"/>
-                <xsl:variable name="count" as="xs:integer" select="xs:integer(ixsl:get($stage, 'childNodes.length'))"/>
-                <xsl:iterate select="1 to $count">
-                    <xsl:param name="anchor" select="$host"/>
-                    <xsl:variable name="node" select="ixsl:get($stage, 'firstChild')"/>
-                    <xsl:sequence select="ixsl:call($anchor, 'after', [ $node ])[current-date() lt xs:date('2000-01-01')]"/>
-                    <xsl:next-iteration>
-                        <xsl:with-param name="anchor" select="$node"/>
-                    </xsl:next-iteration>
-                </xsl:iterate>
+                <xsl:variable name="count" as="xs:integer" select="count($blocks)"/>
+                <xsl:for-each select="$host">
+                    <xsl:result-document href="?." method="ixsl:insert-after">
+                        <xsl:copy-of select="$blocks"/>
+                    </xsl:result-document>
+                </xsl:for-each>
                 <xsl:for-each select="$host/following-sibling::*[position() le $count]">
                     <xsl:call-template name="rdfae:init-block">
                         <xsl:with-param name="block" select="."/>
diff --git a/src/select.xsl b/src/select.xsl
index 0b5e102..da59b5c 100644
--- a/src/select.xsl
+++ b/src/select.xsl
@@ -247,12 +247,14 @@ version="3.0">
 
     <!-- mousedown in a region: Shift extends the standing selection to the
          clicked point (the anchor never moves - preventDefault stops the
-         native caret placement that would collapse it), a plain primary press
-         arms a sweep anchor for the mousemove takeover (no preventDefault:
-         native caret placement and in-host drags proceed untouched). SaxonJS
-         dispatches an event at the innermost matching template only, so a
-         press on the drag handle never reaches this (the handle owns its
-         gesture) and chrome is guarded out explicitly -->
+         native caret placement that would collapse it), a press on non-editable
+         canvas places the caret at the point itself (no native placement exists
+         there), and a plain primary press on a host arms a sweep anchor for the
+         mousemove takeover (no preventDefault: native caret placement and
+         in-host drags proceed untouched). SaxonJS dispatches an event at the
+         innermost matching template only, so a press on the drag handle never
+         reaches this (the handle owns its gesture) and chrome is guarded out
+         explicitly -->
     <xsl:template match="*[contains-token(@class, 'rdfa-editor-content')]" mode="ixsl:onmousedown">
         <xsl:variable name="event" select="ixsl:event()"/>
         <xsl:variable name="region" as="element()" select="."/>
@@ -282,6 +284,32 @@ version="3.0">
                     <ixsl:set-property name="sweepAnchorHost" select="()" object="rdfae:editor-state()"/>
                     <ixsl:set-property name="sweepRegion" select="rdfae:root-of($anchor-node)" object="rdfae:editor-state()"/>
                 </xsl:when>
+                <!-- a press that landed outside every editable host: the surface
+                     between blocks, the handle gutter, a structural container's own
+                     box. The browser has no caret to place there and no focusable
+                     element below the region to focus, so the placement is ours -
+                     the nearest host takes focus and the caret lands at the point,
+                     rather than focus dropping off the canvas. A point that resolves
+                     into a non-editable parent (rdfae:caret-at-point escapes islands
+                     and chrome to a position beside them) has no host to focus and
+                     nothing to place: it falls through to the region's own tabindex -->
+                <xsl:when test="empty($target/ancestor-or-self::*[@contenteditable = 'true'])
+                        and exists(rdfae:host-of($point?node))">
+                    <xsl:sequence select="ixsl:call($event, 'preventDefault', [])[current-date() lt xs:date('2000-01-01')]"/>
+                    <xsl:call-template name="rdfae:focus-caret">
+                        <xsl:with-param name="node" select="$point?node"/>
+                        <xsl:with-param name="offset" select="$point?offset"/>
+                    </xsl:call-template>
+                    <!-- the preventDefault killed the native drag session, so a sweep
+                         dragged out of here is synthetic throughout (no anchor host) -->
+                    <ixsl:set-property name="sweepAnchorNode" select="$point?node" object="rdfae:editor-state()"/>
+                    <ixsl:set-property name="sweepAnchorOffset" select="$point?offset" object="rdfae:editor-state()"/>
+                    <ixsl:set-property name="sweepAnchorHost" select="()" object="rdfae:editor-state()"/>
+                    <ixsl:set-property name="sweepRegion" select="$region" object="rdfae:editor-state()"/>
+                    <!-- focusin only fires when the host changes; a point in the same
+                         host still moves the caret, so sync from the choke point -->
+                    <xsl:call-template name="rdfae:update-breadcrumb"/>
+                </xsl:when>
                 <xsl:otherwise>
                     <xsl:for-each select="$point">
                         <ixsl:set-property name="sweepAnchorNode" select="?node" object="rdfae:editor-state()"/>