diff --git a/layouts/partials/navbar.html b/layouts/partials/navbar.html
index 748d53c1..8a736440 100644
--- a/layouts/partials/navbar.html
+++ b/layouts/partials/navbar.html
@@ -45,8 +45,7 @@
     {{ $status := .Site.Params.version.status }}
 
     {{ if ne $status "unstable"}}
-        {{ $version_pieces := slice .Site.Params.version.major_version .Site.Params.version.minor_version .Site.Params.version.patch_version}}
-        {{ $ret = delimit $version_pieces "." }}
+        {{ $ret = .Site.Params.version.number }}
         {{ $ret = delimit (slice "version" $ret) " " }}
     {{ end }}
 
diff --git a/layouts/shortcodes/changelog/changelog-changes.html b/layouts/shortcodes/changelog/changelog-changes.html
index e911b1a0..a1e27728 100644
--- a/layouts/shortcodes/changelog/changelog-changes.html
+++ b/layouts/shortcodes/changelog/changelog-changes.html
@@ -2,61 +2,36 @@
 
   This template is used to render the set of changes in the changelog page.
 
-  If this version of the spec is unstable, it expects to find a
-  "changelogs/<api>/newsfragments" directory containing all unreleased changes,
-  and renders them all.
+  It expects to find a directory "changelogs" containing a subdirectory for
+  each of the 5 APIs in the specification. Inside each of these directories
+  it expects to find newsfragments describing changes to that API.
 
-  Otherwise it expects to find a "changelog/releases" directory, under which
-  is one or more directories whose name is a patch number, like "0", "1", and so on.
-
-  It renders each of these subdirectories as a separate patch, including
-  a table containing basic info about that patch and the set of changes in it.
+  If the `version.status` setting in config.toml is anything other than
+  "unstable", then it also expects to find a "release.yaml" file in /changelogs,
+  which contains:
+  - `tag`: Git tag for this release
+  - `date`: date of this release
+  It then renders this info a table, before the list of changes.
 
 */}}
 
 {{ $path := path.Join "changelogs" }}
-
 {{ $status := .Site.Params.version.status }}
 
-{{ if eq $status "unstable" }}
-<h2 id=api-changes>Changes since last release</h2>
-    {{ partial "render-api-changes" (dict "title" "Client-Server API" "id" "client-server-api" "path" (path.Join $path "client_server")) }}
-    {{ partial "render-api-changes" (dict "title" "Server-Server API" "id" "server-server-api" "path" (path.Join $path "server_server")) }}
-    {{ partial "render-api-changes" (dict "title" "Application Service API" "id" "application-service-api" "path" (path.Join $path "application_service")) }}
-    {{ partial "render-api-changes" (dict "title" "Identity Service API" "id" "identity-service-api" "path" (path.Join $path "identity_service")) }}
-    {{ partial "render-api-changes" (dict "title" "Push Gateway API" "id" "push-gateway-api" "path" (path.Join $path "push_gateway")) }}
-{{ else }}
-    {{ $releases_path := path.Join $path "releases" }}
-    {{ $major_version := .Site.Params.version.major_version }}
-    {{ $minor_version := .Site.Params.version.minor_version }}
-    {{ $releases := partial "reverse-slice" (readDir $releases_path) }}
-    {{ range $releases }}
-        {{ if .IsDir }}
-<h2 id="{{ .Name }}">Version {{ $major_version }}.{{ $minor_version }}.{{ .Name }}</h2>
-        {{ $release_path := path.Join $releases_path .Name}}
-        {{ $release_info := readFile (path.Join $release_path "release.yaml") | transform.Unmarshal }}
+{{ if ne $status "unstable" }}
+{{ $release_info := readFile (path.Join $path "release.yaml") | transform.Unmarshal }}
 <table class="release-info">
 <tr><th>Git commit</th><td><a href="https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-doc/tree/{{ $release_info.tag }}">https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-doc/tree/{{ $release_info.tag }}</a></td>
 <tr><th>Release date</th><td>{{ $release_info.date }}</td>
 </table>
-            {{ partial "render-api-changes" (dict "title" "Client-Server API" "id" "client-server-api" "path" (path.Join $release_path "client_server")) }}
-            {{ partial "render-api-changes" (dict "title" "Server-Server API" "id" "server-server-api" "path" (path.Join $release_path "server_server")) }}
-            {{ partial "render-api-changes" (dict "title" "Application Service API" "id" "application-service-api" "path" (path.Join $release_path "application_service")) }}
-            {{ partial "render-api-changes" (dict "title" "Identity Service API" "id" "identity-service-api" "path" (path.Join $release_path "identity_service")) }}
-            {{ partial "render-api-changes" (dict "title" "Push Gateway API" "id" "push-gateway-api" "path" (path.Join $release_path "push_gateway")) }}
-        {{ end }}
-    {{ end }}
 {{ end }}
 
-{{ define "partials/reverse-slice" }}
-{{ $sliceOriginal := . }}
-{{ $len := len $sliceOriginal }}
-{{ $sliceReversed := slice }}
-{{ range seq $len }}
-    {{ $sliceReversed = $sliceReversed | append (index $sliceOriginal (sub $len .)) }}
-{{ end }}
-{{ return $sliceReversed }}
-{{ end }}
+<h2 id=api-changes>Changes since last release</h2>
+{{ partial "render-api-changes" (dict "title" "Client-Server API" "id" "client-server-api" "path" (path.Join $path "client_server")) }}
+{{ partial "render-api-changes" (dict "title" "Server-Server API" "id" "server-server-api" "path" (path.Join $path "server_server")) }}
+{{ partial "render-api-changes" (dict "title" "Application Service API" "id" "application-service-api" "path" (path.Join $path "application_service")) }}
+{{ partial "render-api-changes" (dict "title" "Identity Service API" "id" "identity-service-api" "path" (path.Join $path "identity_service")) }}
+{{ partial "render-api-changes" (dict "title" "Push Gateway API" "id" "push-gateway-api" "path" (path.Join $path "push_gateway")) }}
 
 {{ define "partials/render-api-changes" }}
 <h3 id="{{.id}}">{{ .title }}</h3>
diff --git a/layouts/shortcodes/changelog/changelog-description.html b/layouts/shortcodes/changelog/changelog-description.html
index 0c5c5c50..738ff675 100644
--- a/layouts/shortcodes/changelog/changelog-description.html
+++ b/layouts/shortcodes/changelog/changelog-description.html
@@ -11,14 +11,5 @@
 <p>This is the <strong>unstable</strong> version of the Matrix specification.</p>
 <p>This changelog lists changes made since the last release of the specification.</p>
 {{ else }}
-<p>This is version <strong>{{ .Site.Params.version.major_version}}.{{ .Site.Params.version.minor_version}}.{{ .Site.Params.version.patch_version}}</strong> of the Matrix specification.</p>
-
-
-<p>Versions for the Matrix specification follow a three-part format like `major.minor.patch`.</p>
-
-* `major` version increments are reserved for very significant changes.
-* `minor` version increments may signal additions, deprecations, or breaking changes.
-* `patch` version increments are for clarifications to the specification and don't affect implementations.
-
-<p>This changelog lists changes made in the initial <strong>{{ .Site.Params.version.major_version}}.{{ .Site.Params.version.minor_version}}</strong> release and any subsequent patch releases to that version.</p>
+<p>This is version <strong>{{ .Site.Params.version.number }}</strong> of the Matrix specification.</p>
 {{ end }}