Rick asked, "if our documents were authored in Structured Frame, could we use the same topic at a heading 1 level in one document and at a heading 2 level in another document?"
The short answer is Yes. The longer answer is yes, if you set up your EDD (and DTD) properly. What you need is to use the same element for all of your headings, for example <title> or <heading>. Then, in your EDD, define how that element is formatted based on context. Example (using DITA): If context is: (topic | concept | task | reference | example | section) Count ancestors named: concept | task | reference | example | section If level is: 1 Use paragraph format: Heading1 If level is: 2 Use paragraph format: Heading2 If level is: 3 Use paragraph format: Heading3 Bottom line: Use Heading1 if there is only a single concept or task or reference or example or section element as the parent/grandparent/whatever (ancestor) of the heading. Use Heading2 if the topic is nested in 2 of any of the following: concept or task or reference or example or section. And so on... Example (using a custom DTD/EDD): Count ancestors named: Section If level is: 0 Use paragraph format: Title1 If level is: 1 Use paragraph format: Heading1 If level is: 2 Use paragraph format: Heading2 If level is: 3 Use paragraph format: Heading3 Bottom line: Use Title1 if there are no sections as ancestors of this topic (for example, a Chapter). Use Heading1 if there is only a single section element as the parent/grandparent/whatever (ancestor) of the heading. Use Heading2 if the topic is nested in 2 of sections. And so on... In your example (using the same topic at a heading 1 level in one doc and at a heading 2 level in another doc), you would simply copy whatever parent element that contained the heading and the content, such as a <section> element or a <topic> element, into your new document ***in a place where the <section> or <topic> element is valid***. Your EDD would then take care of the formatting, not only of the heading, but also of anything else that needed to be formatted differently based on context and your EDD definitions. HTH, M Marsha Lofthouse Motorola, Inc., Public Safety Applications North America Government & Commercial Markets Division Boulder Design Center Marsha.Lofthouse at motorola.com 303.527.4178