“As a user I can change the type of a topic” was the fourth of 27 requirements that we studied as part of our benchmark on XML editors.

Change the type of a topic

This is an important requirement because the natural writing process is not a linear process. Rather, authors write, structure and review iteratively and in no specific order. This includes adding header texts and giving a topic the appropriate type.

Copy and paste

None of the XML editors currently offer the possibility to change the type of a topic. In the editors studied, an author might have to copy and paste content to a new topic. Manually converting type specific tags.

Smooth content-conversion

Being able to change the type of a topic at any given time gives authors the freedom they need. Using work-arounds should not be necessary. This is one of the reasons why FontoXML makes it possible to change the type of a topic. And when this is done by the author, FontoXML detects features of the chosen topic type and makes the content-conversion from one type to another as smooth as possible, automatically.