For most of the export options, it makes sense to set them up once and then leave them alone. There are occasionally some that seem like they should be able to be changed partway through an export, though.
The HTML export in ox-html.el has org-html-table-use-header-tags-for-first-column. I have an org document with a few tables. One of them is a grid to read off the intersection of row and column, and should use header tags for the first column. The rest are normal tables with a single table header. Is it somehow possible to change this option for the one table and then change it back? Similar question for smart quotes. Mostly I want them on, except for a table or paragraph where I don't (and verbatim or code formatting doesn't quite seem like the right thing to do). -- Keith Sutton