--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -38,6 +38,8 @@
    `fragment` parameter is `True`.
  * The `striptags` function now also removes HTML/XML-style comments (ticket
    #150).
+ * The `py:replace` directive can now also be used as an element, with an
+   attribute named `value` (ticket #144).
 
 
 Version 0.4.4

--- a/doc/xml-templates.txt
+++ b/doc/xml-templates.txt
@@ -499,7 +499,14 @@
     Bye
   </div>
 
-This directive can only be used as an attribute.
+This directive can also be used as an element (since version 0.5):
+
+.. code-block:: genshi
+
+  <div>
+    <py:replace value="title">Placeholder</py:replace>
+  </div>
+
 
 
 .. _`py:strip`:

--- a/genshi/template/directives.py
+++ b/genshi/template/directives.py
@@ -207,6 +207,10 @@
     __slots__ = []
 
     def attach(cls, template, stream, value, namespaces, pos):
+        if type(value) is dict:
+            raise TemplateSyntaxError('The content directive can not be used '
+                                      'as an element', template.filepath,
+                                      *pos[1:])
         expr = cls._parse_expr(value, template, *pos[1:])
         return None, [stream[0], (EXPR, expr, pos),  stream[-1]]
     attach = classmethod(attach)
@@ -484,6 +488,8 @@
     __slots__ = []
 
     def attach(cls, template, stream, value, namespaces, pos):
+        if type(value) is dict:
+            value = value.get('value')
         if not value:
             raise TemplateSyntaxError('missing value for "replace" directive',
                                       template.filepath, *pos[1:])

--- a/genshi/template/tests/directives.py
+++ b/genshi/template/tests/directives.py
@@ -916,6 +916,21 @@
     #    </div>""", str(tmpl.generate()))
 
 
+class ContentDirectiveTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
+    """Tests for the `py:content` template directive."""
+
+    def test_as_element(self):
+        try:
+            tmpl = MarkupTemplate("""<doc xmlns:py="http://genshi.edgewall.org/">
+              <py:content foo="">Foo</py:content>
+            </doc>""", filename='test.html')
+            self.fail('Expected TemplateSyntaxError')
+        except TemplateSyntaxError, e:
+            self.assertEqual('test.html', e.filename)
+            if sys.version_info[:2] >= (2, 4):
+                self.assertEqual(2, e.lineno)
+
+
 class ReplaceDirectiveTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
     """Tests for the `py:replace` template directive."""
 
@@ -934,6 +949,14 @@
             if sys.version_info[:2] >= (2, 4):
                 self.assertEqual(2, e.lineno)
 
+    def test_as_element(self):
+        tmpl = MarkupTemplate("""<div xmlns:py="http://genshi.edgewall.org/">
+          <py:replace value="title" />
+        </div>""", filename='test.html')
+        self.assertEqual("""<div>
+          Test
+        </div>""", str(tmpl.generate(title='Test')))
+
 
 class StripDirectiveTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
     """Tests for the `py:strip` template directive."""
@@ -1065,6 +1088,7 @@
     suite.addTest(unittest.makeSuite(ForDirectiveTestCase, 'test'))
     suite.addTest(unittest.makeSuite(IfDirectiveTestCase, 'test'))
     suite.addTest(unittest.makeSuite(MatchDirectiveTestCase, 'test'))
+    suite.addTest(unittest.makeSuite(ContentDirectiveTestCase, 'test'))
     suite.addTest(unittest.makeSuite(ReplaceDirectiveTestCase, 'test'))
     suite.addTest(unittest.makeSuite(StripDirectiveTestCase, 'test'))
     suite.addTest(unittest.makeSuite(WithDirectiveTestCase, 'test'))