A really good post, but problem 2 is the biggie here:
> What if something needs to be colored two things for two different reasons?
As another commenter points out, JetBrains already do a lot of the ideas this person has raised - but they do it in response to actions. Eg. Put the cursor next to one bracket, the matching bracket is highlighted.
I think the key to breaking this open is an editor that does different highlights at different times in response to user actions; the key will be getting the right user actions so this is seamless and easy to use.
> What if something needs to be colored two things for two different reasons?
As another commenter points out, JetBrains already do a lot of the ideas this person has raised - but they do it in response to actions. Eg. Put the cursor next to one bracket, the matching bracket is highlighted.
I think the key to breaking this open is an editor that does different highlights at different times in response to user actions; the key will be getting the right user actions so this is seamless and easy to use.