diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 79f2f4b..2accb01 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -13,9 +13,9 @@
 BUILDDIR     ?= _build
 
 # name of python virtualenv that is used to run commands
-VENV_NAME      := venv-docs
+VENV_NAME    := venv-docs
 
-.PHONY: help test lint doc8 reload Makefile prep format format-dict
+.PHONY: help Makefile test doc8 dict-check sort-dict license clean clean-all
 
 # Put it first so that "make" without argument is like "make help".
 help: $(VENV_NAME)
@@ -24,34 +24,26 @@
 
 # Create the virtualenv with all the tools installed
 $(VENV_NAME):
-	python3 -m venv $(VENV_NAME) ;\
+	python3 -m venv $@ ;\
   source $@/bin/activate ;\
   pip install -r requirements.txt
 
-# automatically reload changes in browser as they're made
-reload: $(VENV_NAME)
-	source $</bin/activate ; set -u ;\
-  sphinx-reload $(SOURCEDIR)
-
 # lint and link verification. linkcheck is part of sphinx
-test: lint spelling linkcheck dict-check
+test: license doc8 dict-check spelling linkcheck
 
-lint: doc8
-
-doc8: $(VENV_NAME) | $(OTHER_REPO_DOCS)
+doc8: $(VENV_NAME)
 	source $</bin/activate ; set -u ;\
-  doc8 --max-line-length 119 \
-  $$(find . -name \*.rst ! -path "*venv*" ! -path "*vendor*" ! -path "*repos*" )
+  doc8 --ignore-path $< --ignore-path _build --ignore-path LICENSES --max-line-length 119
 
 # Words in dict.txt must be in the correct alphabetical order and must not duplicated.
-dict-check: format-dict
-	@git update-index --refresh
+dict-check: sort-dict
+	@set -u ;\
+	git diff --exit-code dict.txt && echo "dict.txt is sorted" && exit 0 || \
+	echo "dict.txt is unsorted or needs to be added to git index" ; exit 1
 
-format: format-dict
-
-format-dict:
-	@cat dict.txt | sort -u > /tmp/sorted.txt
-	@mv /tmp/sorted.txt dict.txt
+sort-dict:
+	@sort -u < dict.txt > dict_sorted.txt
+	@mv dict_sorted.txt dict.txt
 
 license: $(VENV_NAME)
 	source $</bin/activate ; set -u ;\
@@ -73,6 +65,6 @@
 
 # Catch-all target: route all unknown targets to Sphinx using the new
 # "make mode" option.  $(O) is meant as a shortcut for $(SPHINXOPTS).
-%: $(VENV_NAME) Makefile | $(OTHER_REPO_DOCS) $(STATIC_DOCS)
+%: $(VENV_NAME) Makefile
 	source $</bin/activate ; set -u ;\
   $(SPHINXBUILD) -M $@ "$(SOURCEDIR)" "$(BUILDDIR)" $(SPHINXOPTS) $(O)