Hi Lynne,
Great tips. I still think, though, that a simpler way to apply common formatting would be tops. I really want to press Ctrl+B (or the toolbar button) and automatically get a <b> element, which is what I think the OP really wants too. I don't think there was ever any intent to use format overrides; rather the desire is a way to use those tools to apply the legitimate structure.
I think I will release this thing once I write it. I'll make it work for unstructured docs too, such that a character format can be applied, instead of an element. But I'm kind of busy, so don't anyone hold their breath.
Russ