diff --git a/presentation/dom.nix b/presentation/dom.nix
index 9f271e77..598af7cb 100644
--- a/presentation/dom.nix
+++ b/presentation/dom.nix
@@ -536,7 +536,7 @@ let
               # setting to an attribute set will wrap the section in `<hgroup>`
               hgroup.attrs = mkOption {
                 type = with types; nullOr (submodule { options = global-attrs; });
-                default = with lib; mkIf (!isNull config.before || !isNull config.after) { };
+                default = with lib; if (config.before == [ ] || config.after == [ ]) then null else { };
               };
               # https://html.spec.whatwg.org/multipage/sections.html#the-hgroup-element
               before = mkOption {