diff --git a/client/js/controllers/tags_controller.js b/client/js/controllers/tags_controller.js
index 91330ba4..ef2d94db 100644
--- a/client/js/controllers/tags_controller.js
+++ b/client/js/controllers/tags_controller.js
@@ -185,10 +185,9 @@ class TagsController {
         pageController.run({
             state: ctx.state,
             requestPage: page => {
+                const text = ctx.searchQuery.text;
                 return api.get(
-                    '/tags/?query={text}&page={page}&pageSize=50'.format({
-                        text: ctx.searchQuery.text,
-                        page: page}));
+                    `/tags/?query=${text}&page=${page}&pageSize=50`);
             },
             clientUrl: '/tags/' + misc.formatSearchQuery({
                 text: ctx.searchQuery.text, page: '{page}'}),
diff --git a/client/js/controllers/users_controller.js b/client/js/controllers/users_controller.js
index 53f485e8..96d609af 100644
--- a/client/js/controllers/users_controller.js
+++ b/client/js/controllers/users_controller.js
@@ -67,10 +67,9 @@ class UsersController {
         pageController.run({
             state: ctx.state,
             requestPage: page => {
+                const text = ctx.searchQuery.text;
                 return api.get(
-                    '/users/?query={text}&page={page}&pageSize=30'.format({
-                        text: ctx.searchQuery.text,
-                        page: page}));
+                    `/users/?query=${text}&page=${page}&pageSize=30`);
             },
             clientUrl: '/users/' + misc.formatSearchQuery({
                 text: ctx.searchQuery.text, page: '{page}'}),
diff --git a/client/js/controls/tag_auto_complete_control.js b/client/js/controls/tag_auto_complete_control.js
index 7bb9090c..6bbe8d87 100644
--- a/client/js/controls/tag_auto_complete_control.js
+++ b/client/js/controls/tag_auto_complete_control.js
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 'use strict';
 
+const unindent = require('../util/misc.js').unindent;
 const lodash = require('lodash');
 const tags = require('../tags.js');
 const AutoCompleteControl = require('./auto_complete_control.js');
@@ -26,12 +27,14 @@ class TagAutoCompleteControl extends AutoCompleteControl {
                     return kv2[1].usages - kv1[1].usages;
                 })
                 .map(kv => {
+                    const category = kv[1].category;
+                    const origName = tags.getOriginalTagName(kv[0]);
+                    const usages = kv[1].usages;
                     return {
-                        caption:
-                            '<span class="tag-{0}">{1} ({2})</span>'.format(
-                                kv[1].category,
-                                tags.getOriginalTagName(kv[0]),
-                                kv[1].usages),
+                        caption: unindent`
+                            <span class="tag-${category}">
+                                ${origName} (${usages})
+                            </span>`,
                         value: kv[0],
                     };
                 });
diff --git a/client/js/tags.js b/client/js/tags.js
index 359d997a..09ff9252 100644
--- a/client/js/tags.js
+++ b/client/js/tags.js
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 'use strict';
 
 const request = require('superagent');
-const util = require('./util/misc.js');
 const events = require('./events.js');
 
 let _tags = null;
@@ -66,7 +65,7 @@ function _refreshStylesheet() {
     document.head.appendChild(_stylesheet);
     for (let category of getAllCategories()) {
         _stylesheet.sheet.insertRule(
-            '.tag-{0} { color: {1} }'.format(category.name, category.color),
+            `.tag-${category.name} { color: ${category.color} }`,
             _stylesheet.sheet.cssRules.length);
     }
 }
diff --git a/client/js/util/misc.js b/client/js/util/misc.js
index af333642..423fe393 100644
--- a/client/js/util/misc.js
+++ b/client/js/util/misc.js
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ function formatSearchQuery(dict) {
     for (let key of Object.keys(dict)) {
         const value = dict[key];
         if (value) {
-            result.push('{0}={1}'.format(key, value));
+            result.push(`${key}=${value}`);
         }
     }
     return result.join(';');
@@ -79,10 +79,34 @@ function parseSearchQueryRoute(ctx, next) {
     next();
 }
 
+function unindent(callSite, ...args) {
+    function format(str) {
+        let size = -1;
+        return str.replace(/\n(\s+)/g, (m, m1) => {
+            if (size < 0) {
+                size = m1.replace(/\t/g, '    ').length;
+            }
+            return "\n" + m1.slice(Math.min(m1.length, size));
+        });
+    }
+    if (typeof callSite === 'string') {
+        return format(callSite);
+    }
+    if (typeof callSite === 'function') {
+        return (...args) => format(callSite(...args));
+    }
+    let output = callSite
+        .slice(0, args.length + 1)
+        .map((text, i) => (i === 0 ? '' : args[i - 1]) + text)
+        .join('');
+    return format(output);
+}
+
 module.exports = {
     range: range,
     formatSearchQuery: formatSearchQuery,
     parseSearchQuery: parseSearchQuery,
     parseSearchQueryRoute: parseSearchQueryRoute,
     formatRelativeTime: formatRelativeTime,
+    unindent: unindent,
 };
diff --git a/client/js/util/polyfill.js b/client/js/util/polyfill.js
index f11d13cd..606d29d7 100644
--- a/client/js/util/polyfill.js
+++ b/client/js/util/polyfill.js
@@ -22,25 +22,6 @@ Promise.prototype.always = function(onResolveOrReject) {
         });
 };
 
-// non standard
-if (!String.prototype.format) {
-    String.prototype.format = function() {
-        let str = this.toString();
-        if (!arguments.length) {
-            return str;
-        }
-        const type = typeof arguments[0];
-        const args = (type == 'string' || type == 'number') ?
-            arguments : arguments[0];
-        for (let arg in args) {
-            str = str.replace(
-                new RegExp('\\{' + arg + '\\}', 'gi'),
-                () => { return args[arg]; });
-        }
-        return str;
-    };
-}
-
 // non standard
 Number.prototype.between = function(a, b, inclusive) {
     const min = Math.min(a, b);
diff --git a/client/js/util/views.js b/client/js/util/views.js
index 2e032edc..d432ee1f 100644
--- a/client/js/util/views.js
+++ b/client/js/util/views.js
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ function makeThumbnail(url) {
         'span',
         {
             class: 'thumbnail',
-            style: 'background-image: url(\'{0}\')'.format(url)
+            style: `background-image: url(\'${url}\')`,
         },
         makeVoidElement('img', {alt: 'thumbnail', src: url}));
 }
@@ -164,18 +164,17 @@ function _serializeElement(name, attributes) {
                     attributes[key] === undefined) {
                 return '';
             }
-            return '{0}="{1}"'.format(key, attributes[key]);
+            return `${key}="${attributes[key]}"`;
         }))
         .join(' ');
 }
 
 function makeNonVoidElement(name, attributes, content) {
-    return '<{0}>{1}</{2}>'.format(
-        _serializeElement(name, attributes), content, name);
+    return `<${_serializeElement(name, attributes)}>${content}</${name}>`;
 }
 
 function makeVoidElement(name, attributes) {
-    return '<{0}/>'.format(_serializeElement(name, attributes));
+    return `<${_serializeElement(name, attributes)}/>`;
 }
 
 function _messageHandler(target, message, className) {
diff --git a/client/js/views/endless_page_view.js b/client/js/views/endless_page_view.js
index c4e36463..6c54d3b0 100644
--- a/client/js/views/endless_page_view.js
+++ b/client/js/views/endless_page_view.js
@@ -4,6 +4,10 @@ const page = require('page');
 const events = require('../events.js');
 const views = require('../util/views.js');
 
+function _formatUrl(url, page) {
+    return url.replace('{page}', page);
+}
+
 class EndlessPageView {
     constructor() {
         this._holderTemplate = views.getTemplate('endless-pager');
@@ -51,7 +55,7 @@ class EndlessPageView {
             let topPageNumber = parseInt(topPageNode.getAttribute('data-page'));
             if (topPageNumber !== this.currentPage) {
                 page.replace(
-                    ctx.clientUrl.format({page: topPageNumber}),
+                    _formatUrl(ctx.clientUrl, topPageNumber),
                     null,
                     false,
                     false);
diff --git a/client/js/views/manual_page_view.js b/client/js/views/manual_page_view.js
index 9e176f8f..baeafc21 100644
--- a/client/js/views/manual_page_view.js
+++ b/client/js/views/manual_page_view.js
@@ -6,6 +6,10 @@ const keyboard = require('../util/keyboard.js');
 const misc = require('../util/misc.js');
 const views = require('../util/views.js');
 
+function _formatUrl(url, page) {
+    return url.replace('{page}', page);
+}
+
 function _removeConsecutiveDuplicates(a) {
     return a.filter((item, pos, ary) => {
         return !pos || item != ary[pos - 1];
@@ -43,7 +47,7 @@ function _getPages(currentPage, pageNumbers, clientUrl) {
         }
         pages.push({
             number: page,
-            link: clientUrl.format({page: page}),
+            link: _formatUrl(clientUrl, page),
             active: currentPage === page,
         });
         lastPage = page;
@@ -80,19 +84,19 @@ class ManualPageView {
 
             keyboard.bind(['a', 'left'], () => {
                 if (currentPage > 1) {
-                    page.show(ctx.clientUrl.format({page: currentPage - 1}));
+                    page.show(_formatUrl(ctx.clientUrl, currentPage - 1));
                 }
             });
             keyboard.bind(['d', 'right'], () => {
                 if (currentPage < totalPages) {
-                    page.show(ctx.clientUrl.format({page: currentPage + 1}));
+                    page.show(_formatUrl(ctx.clientUrl, currentPage + 1));
                 }
             });
 
             if (response.total) {
                 views.showView(pageNav, this._navTemplate({
-                    prevLink: ctx.clientUrl.format({page: currentPage - 1}),
-                    nextLink: ctx.clientUrl.format({page: currentPage + 1}),
+                    prevLink: _formatUrl(ctx.clientUrl, currentPage - 1),
+                    nextLink: _formatUrl(ctx.clientUrl, currentPage + 1),
                     prevLinkActive: currentPage > 1,
                     nextLinkActive: currentPage < totalPages,
                     pages: pages,