diff --git a/src/js/editor/editor.js b/src/js/editor/editor.js
index ab7e6a329..76f881456 100644
--- a/src/js/editor/editor.js
+++ b/src/js/editor/editor.js
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ import {
 } from 'content-kit-compiler';
 import { toArray, merge, mergeWithOptions } from 'content-kit-utils';
 import { win, doc } from 'content-kit-editor/utils/compat';
+import ElementMap from "../utils/element-map";
 
 var defaults = {
   placeholder: 'Write here...',
@@ -51,6 +52,17 @@ var defaults = {
   cards: {}
 };
 
+function replaceInArray(array, original, replacement) {
+  var i, l, possibleOriginal;
+  for (i=0,l=array.length;i<l;i++) {
+    possibleOriginal = array[i];
+    if (possibleOriginal === original) {
+      array[i] = replacement;
+      return;
+    }
+  }
+}
+
 function bindContentEditableTypingListeners(editor) {
 
 
@@ -85,7 +97,43 @@ function bindContentEditableTypingListeners(editor) {
 }
 
 function bindLiveUpdate(editor) {
-  editor.element.addEventListener('input', function() {
+  editor.element.addEventListener('input', () => {
+    var selection = document.getSelection();
+    if (selection.rangeCount) {
+      var range = selection.getRangeAt(0);
+      if (range.collapsed) {
+        var element = range.startContainer;
+        var sectionElement, section;
+        while (element) {
+          section = editor.sectionElementMap.get(element);
+          if (section) {
+            sectionElement = element;
+            break;
+          }
+          element = element.parentNode;
+        }
+
+        if (!sectionElement) {
+          throw new Error('There is not section element for the previous edit');
+        }
+
+        var previousSectionElement;
+        if (sectionElement && sectionElement.previousSibling) {
+          previousSectionElement = sectionElement.previousSibling;
+        }
+
+        var newSection = editor.compiler.parseSection(
+          previousSectionElement.dataset.section,
+          sectionElement.firstChild
+        );
+
+        // FIXME: This would benefit from post being a linked-list of sections
+        replaceInArray(editor.model.sections, section, newSection);
+        editor.sectionElementMap.set(sectionElement, newSection);
+        editor.trigger('update');
+        return;
+      }
+    }
     editor.syncContentEditableBlocks();
   });
 }
@@ -178,6 +226,8 @@ function Editor(element, options) {
     });
   }
 
+  this.sectionElementMap = new ElementMap();
+
   if (element) {
     applyClassName(element);
     applyPlaceholder(element, editor.placeholder);
@@ -188,7 +238,11 @@ function Editor(element, options) {
     if (editor.model) {
       editor.loadModel(editor.model);
     } else {
-      editor.sync();
+      this.syncModel();
+      while (element.childNodes.length) {
+        element.childNodes[0].remove();
+      }
+      this.syncVisual();
     }
 
     bindContentEditableTypingListeners(editor);
@@ -219,12 +273,7 @@ Editor.prototype.syncModel = function() {
 };
 
 Editor.prototype.syncVisual = function() {
-  this.compiler.render(this.model, this.element);
-};
-
-Editor.prototype.sync = function() {
-  this.syncModel();
-  this.syncVisual();
+  this.compiler.render(this.model, this.sectionElementMap, this.element);
 };
 
 Editor.prototype.getCurrentBlockIndex = function(element) {
diff --git a/src/js/renderers/new-dom-renderer.js b/src/js/renderers/new-dom-renderer.js
index 72658696c..a1fb30ccd 100644
--- a/src/js/renderers/new-dom-renderer.js
+++ b/src/js/renderers/new-dom-renderer.js
@@ -1,11 +1,5 @@
-function renderHeadline(doc, text) {
-  var element = doc.createElement('h2');
-  element.textContent = text;
-  return element;
-}
-
-function renderParagraph(doc, types, markers) {
-  var element = doc.createElement('p');
+function renderMarkupSection(doc, section, markers) {
+  var element = doc.createElement(section.tagName);
   var elements = [element];
   var currentElement = element;
   var i, l, j, m, marker, openTypes, closeTypes, text;
@@ -13,9 +7,9 @@ function renderParagraph(doc, types, markers) {
   var openedElement, openedTagName;
   for (i=0, l=markers.length;i<l;i++) {
     marker = markers[i];
-    openTypes = marker[0];
-    closeTypes = marker[1];
-    text = marker[2];
+    openTypes = marker.open;
+    closeTypes = marker.close;
+    text = marker.value;
 
     for (j=0, m=openTypes.length;j<m;j++) {
       markerType = openTypes[j];
@@ -58,22 +52,21 @@ function NewDOMRenderer(doc, cards) {
   this.cards = cards;
 };
 
-NewDOMRenderer.prototype.render = function NewDOMRenderer_render(data, target) {
+NewDOMRenderer.prototype.render = function NewDOMRenderer_render(data, elementMap, target) {
   var sections = data.sections;
   var i, l, section, node;
   for (i=0, l=sections.length;i<l;i++) {
     node = this.document.createElement('section');
     section = sections[i];
-    switch (section[0]) {
-    case 2:
-      node.appendChild(renderHeadline(this.document, section[1]));
-      break;
+    elementMap.set(node, section);
+    switch (section.type) {
     case 1:
-      node.appendChild(renderParagraph(this.document, section[1]));
+      node.appendChild(renderMarkupSection(this.document, section, section.markups));
       break;
     case 5:
+      throw new Error('unimplemented');
       var componentFn = this.cards[section[1]];
-      node.appendChild(componentFn(this.document, section[2]));
+      node.appendChild(componentFn(this.document, section.markups));
       break;
     }
     target.appendChild(node);
diff --git a/src/js/utils/element-map.js b/src/js/utils/element-map.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..55e6d9b67
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/js/utils/element-map.js
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+// start at one to make the falsy semantics easier
+let uuidGenerator = 1;
+
+class ElementMap {
+  constructor() {
+    this._map = {};
+  }
+  set(key, value) {
+    let uuid = key.dataset.uuid;
+    if (!uuid) {
+      key.dataset.uuid = uuid = uuidGenerator++;
+    }
+    this._map[uuid] = value;
+  }
+  get(key) {
+    if (key.dataset && key.dataset.uuid) {
+      return this._map[key.dataset.uuid];
+    }
+    return null;
+  }
+  remove(key) {
+    if (!key.dataset.uuid) {
+      throw new Error('tried to fetch a value for an element not seen before');
+    }
+    delete this._map[key.dataset.uuid];
+  }
+
+}
+
+export default ElementMap;