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

[Juri Linkov]

>>> 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.

I see another problem with an asterisk: many buffers already have an asterisk
as the first character of their buffer names, so it will be indistinguishable
from the modified status.

But why font-lock-doc-face?  Have you tried to change tab background color?
I guess this would be more visually pleasing.  Or maybe not.  This needs
more experimentation.