diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index bc077371..6ae09884 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "serde_json 0.9.9 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "slug 0.1.2 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "staticfile 0.4.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
- "syntect 1.1.1 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
+ "syntect 1.2.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "tera 0.8.0 (git+https://github.com/Keats/tera?branch=reload)",
  "toml 0.3.1 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "walkdir 1.0.7 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
@@ -263,7 +263,7 @@ source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 dependencies = [
  "httparse 1.2.1 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "language-tags 0.2.2 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
- "log 0.3.6 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
+ "log 0.3.7 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "mime 0.2.2 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "num_cpus 1.3.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "rustc-serialize 0.3.22 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
@@ -302,7 +302,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "error 0.1.9 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "hyper 0.10.5 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "lazy_static 0.2.4 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
- "log 0.3.6 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
+ "log 0.3.7 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "modifier 0.1.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "num_cpus 1.3.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "plugin 0.2.6 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
@@ -346,7 +346,7 @@ source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "log"
-version = "0.3.6"
+version = "0.3.7"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 
 [[package]]
@@ -367,7 +367,7 @@ name = "mime"
 version = "0.2.2"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 dependencies = [
- "log 0.3.6 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
+ "log 0.3.7 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -386,7 +386,7 @@ source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 dependencies = [
  "bytes 0.3.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "libc 0.2.21 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
- "log 0.3.6 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
+ "log 0.3.7 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "miow 0.1.5 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "net2 0.2.27 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "nix 0.5.1 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
@@ -403,8 +403,8 @@ dependencies = [
  "kernel32-sys 0.2.2 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "lazycell 0.4.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "libc 0.2.21 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
- "log 0.3.6 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
- "miow 0.2.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
+ "log 0.3.7 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
+ "miow 0.2.1 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "net2 0.2.27 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "slab 0.3.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "winapi 0.2.8 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
@@ -423,7 +423,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "miow"
-version = "0.2.0"
+version = "0.2.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 dependencies = [
  "kernel32-sys 0.2.2 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
@@ -755,7 +755,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "syntect"
-version = "1.1.1"
+version = "1.2.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 dependencies = [
  "bincode 0.6.1 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
@@ -971,7 +971,7 @@ source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 dependencies = [
  "bytes 0.3.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "httparse 1.2.1 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
- "log 0.3.6 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
+ "log 0.3.7 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "mio 0.6.4 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "rand 0.3.15 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "sha1 0.2.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
@@ -1044,7 +1044,7 @@ source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 "checksum lazy_static 0.2.4 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "7291b1dd97d331f752620b02dfdbc231df7fc01bf282a00769e1cdb963c460dc"
 "checksum lazycell 0.4.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "ce12306c4739d86ee97c23139f3a34ddf0387bbf181bc7929d287025a8c3ef6b"
 "checksum libc 0.2.21 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "88ee81885f9f04bff991e306fea7c1c60a5f0f9e409e99f6b40e3311a3363135"
-"checksum log 0.3.6 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "ab83497bf8bf4ed2a74259c1c802351fcd67a65baa86394b6ba73c36f4838054"
+"checksum log 0.3.7 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "5141eca02775a762cc6cd564d8d2c50f67c0ea3a372cbf1c51592b3e029e10ad"
 "checksum matches 0.1.4 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "efd7622e3022e1a6eaa602c4cea8912254e5582c9c692e9167714182244801b1"
 "checksum memchr 1.0.1 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "1dbccc0e46f1ea47b9f17e6d67c5a96bd27030519c519c9c91327e31275a47b4"
 "checksum mime 0.2.2 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "b5c93a4bd787ddc6e7833c519b73a50883deb5863d76d9b71eb8216fb7f94e66"
@@ -1052,7 +1052,7 @@ source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 "checksum mio 0.5.1 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "a637d1ca14eacae06296a008fa7ad955347e34efcb5891cfd8ba05491a37907e"
 "checksum mio 0.6.4 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "eecdbdd49a849336e77b453f021c89972a2cfb5b51931a0026ae0ac4602de681"
 "checksum miow 0.1.5 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "3e690c5df6b2f60acd45d56378981e827ff8295562fc8d34f573deb267a59cd1"
-"checksum miow 0.2.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "3a78d2605eb97302c10cf944b8d96b0a2a890c52957caf92fcd1f24f69049579"
+"checksum miow 0.2.1 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "8c1f2f3b1cf331de6896aabf6e9d55dca90356cc9960cca7eaaf408a355ae919"
 "checksum modifier 0.1.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "41f5c9112cb662acd3b204077e0de5bc66305fa8df65c8019d5adb10e9ab6e58"
 "checksum mount 0.3.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "32245731923cd096899502fc4c4317cfd09f121e80e73f7f576cf3777a824256"
 "checksum net2 0.2.27 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "18b9642ad6222faf5ce46f6966f59b71b9775ad5758c9e09fcf0a6c8061972b4"
@@ -1094,7 +1094,7 @@ source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 "checksum strsim 0.6.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "b4d15c810519a91cf877e7e36e63fe068815c678181439f2f29e2562147c3694"
 "checksum syn 0.11.9 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "480c834701caba3548aa991e54677281be3a5414a9d09ddbdf4ed74a569a9d19"
 "checksum synom 0.11.3 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "a393066ed9010ebaed60b9eafa373d4b1baac186dd7e008555b0f702b51945b6"
-"checksum syntect 1.1.1 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "3f79be04af68d5fa09e71b3274159a955a25f25a5cbfba9a6ff64139b71d848a"
+"checksum syntect 1.2.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "6728e7e9bbd971751d17d39b0e38e3558c10b9fb32125441bb17c434a2754e7c"
 "checksum tera 0.8.0 (git+https://github.com/Keats/tera?branch=reload)" = "<none>"
 "checksum term_size 0.2.3 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "07b6c1ac5b3fffd75073276bca1ceed01f67a28537097a2a9539e116e50fb21a"
 "checksum thread-id 3.0.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "4437c97558c70d129e40629a5b385b3fb1ffac301e63941335e4d354081ec14a"
diff --git a/src/config.rs b/src/config.rs
index d7e0c257..bd9b20c4 100644
--- a/src/config.rs
+++ b/src/config.rs
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ pub struct Config {
     pub title: String,
     /// Base URL of the site
     pub base_url: String,
-    /// Whether to highlight all code found in markdown files. Defaults to true
+    /// Whether to highlight all code blocks found in markdown files. Defaults to false
     pub highlight_code: Option<bool>,
     /// Description of the site
     pub description: Option<String>,
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ impl Config {
         }
 
         if config.highlight_code.is_none() {
-            config.highlight_code = Some(true);
+            config.highlight_code = Some(false);
         }
 
         if config.disable_rss.is_none() {
diff --git a/src/page.rs b/src/page.rs
index 0722c82b..4ff9c1ec 100644
--- a/src/page.rs
+++ b/src/page.rs
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ use markdown::markdown_to_html;
 lazy_static! {
     static ref PAGE_RE: Regex = Regex::new(r"^\n?\+\+\+\n((?s).*(?-s))\+\+\+\n((?s).*(?-s))$").unwrap();
     static ref SUMMARY_RE: Regex = Regex::new(r"<!-- more -->").unwrap();
+    static ref CODE_BLOCK_RE: Regex = Regex::new(r"```").unwrap();
 }
 
 
@@ -113,13 +114,22 @@ impl Page {
         let mut page = Page::new(meta);
         page.filepath = filepath.to_string();
         page.raw_content = content.to_string();
-        page.content = markdown_to_html(&page.raw_content, config.highlight_code.unwrap());
 
+        // We try to be smart about highlighting code as it can be time-consuming
+        // If the global config disables it, then we do nothing. However,
+        // if we see a code block in the content, we assume that this page needs
+        // to be highlighted. It could potentially have false positive if the content
+        // has ``` in it but that seems kind of unlikely
+        let mut should_highlight = config.highlight_code.unwrap();
+        if should_highlight {
+            should_highlight = CODE_BLOCK_RE.is_match(&page.raw_content);
+        }
+        page.content = markdown_to_html(&page.raw_content, should_highlight);
 
         if page.raw_content.contains("<!-- more -->") {
             page.summary = {
                 let summary = SUMMARY_RE.split(&page.raw_content).collect::<Vec<&str>>()[0];
-                markdown_to_html(summary, config.highlight_code.unwrap())
+                markdown_to_html(summary, should_highlight)
             }
         }
 
@@ -453,4 +463,24 @@ Hello world
         let page = res.unwrap();
         assert_eq!(page.summary, "<p>Hello world</p>\n");
     }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_can_auto_detect_when_highlighting_needed() {
+        let content = r#"
++++
+title = "Hello"
+description = "hey there"
++++
+```
+Hey there
+```
+"#.to_string();
+        let mut config = Config::default();
+        config.highlight_code = Some(true);
+        let res = Page::parse("hello.md", &content, &config);
+        assert!(res.is_ok());
+        let page = res.unwrap();
+        assert!(page.content.starts_with("<pre"));
+
+    }
 }