bug#21112: 25; Patch: show minibuffer messages with a face

[Drew Adams]

> Without highlighting of minibuffer messages there is a danger that the
> message will remain unnoticed, especially in the multiline minibuffer.

Danger?  Really?

Some people don't like danger notices.
Some people don't like (what they call) "angry
fruit salad".  Some people don't like lots of
highlighting - or even any highlighting, e.g.
in something like Dired.  Some people even
turn off `font-lock-mode'.

(I'm not one of those people, but they exist.)

People are different.  Their use cases and
contexts of use are different.  One size does
not fit all.

> So minibuffer messages need to be highlighted for the same reason
> why the minibuffer prompt is already highlighted:


"Need to be"?  Neither of those things _needs_
to be highlighted.  Lots of us users will
appreciate that they can be highlighted.

We'll also appreciate being able to choose
how, how much, and whether they're highlighted.

> 1. to designate non-editable read-only parts of the minibuffer;
> 2. to help the users to turn attention to the active part
>    of the minibuffer.

I agree (personally and generally) with those
aids - helpful.  I don't agree about there
being "danger" if they are absent.

> Thus all informational text in the minibuffer should be highlighted
> consistently in one color to help not to miss important message.

"Thus"?  That doesn't follow, even if one accepts
your argument above.  Nothing in that argument
implies that ALL informational text in the
minibuffer should be highlighted CONSISTENTLY IN
ONE COLOR.

It's quite possible for important messages not to
be missed without such a paint-it-all-the-same
approach.  It's quite possible that some code
wants (and the users who choose to use that code
want) to emphasize certain parts of a message
specially - including precisely "to help not to
miss" something particularly noteworthy.

What is true in this regard of `message' is also
true of `minibuffer-message'.  Are you thinking
of imposing the same kind of blanket treatment
for `message'?  If not, why not?  Why doesn't
that apply also to `minibuffer-message'?

> Isn't it so already that elsewhere in Emacs font-lock is used
> to highlight more important parts of the buffer?

Font-lock does not impose a single face
("consistently in one color") for all its
highlighting, does it?  Why not?  Because it
can be useful to emphasize different things
differently...