Re: [PATCH] tab-line: New tab-line-tab-face-modified face

[Adam Porter]

Juri Linkov <juri@linkov.net> writes:

>> Spending some more time using Emacs 28.0.50 with tab-bar and tab-line, I
>> found myself missing the ability to look at a tab-line tab and know
>> whether its buffer is modified (e.g. after using
>> `xref-query-replace-in-results' on some project buffers).
>>
>> This patch adds a face for modified, file-backed buffers.  I chose to
>> inherit from the font-lock-doc-face, as it seems readable and intuitive
>> with the default theme.  It seems to make the tab-line much more useful,
>> and more in line with what users will probably expect from having used
>> other editors' GUIs.
>
> Thanks, a modified buffer needs to be indicated somehow,
> but all other editors' GUIs display ‘*’ at the beginning
> of the modified buffer's name.

Some do, yes, but I've used some that change the appearance of the text
in the tab's name, e.g. making it bold, italic, etc.  We already use
italic for non-file-backed buffers, and bold seems, well, too bold, IMHO
(and it may change the width of the tab with proportional fonts), so
changing the color seems reasonable.

I'm not opposed to optionally adding an asterisk to the name, but that
would change the width of the tab as soon as a user types into a buffer,
which doesn't seem like a good default to me.