RE: More visible mini-buffer prompt face

[Drew Adams]

>     I wonder if it would not be better to have a more visible
>     face for the minibuffer prompt by default. My suggestion
>     would be using a visible background color (some not too
>     sharp yellow perhaps).
>
> What color do you get now?
> Which of the options in the defface is being used?
> Could you propose a patch in that defface?

I see no reason for the prompt to stand out more, and changing the
background color is a bad idea, IMO. Background colors are often used to
highlight particular sections of text, not just to present normal text. Why
should a normal _prompt_ stand out especially?

If your code pops up menus that attract the user away from the minibuffer,
and then you expect the user to notice a minibuffer prompt that you issue,
then why not make the minibuffer prompt stand out more _in your code_? This
sounds like a UI (dialog) problem in your code, not a problem with the
default Emacs minibuffer prompt face.

In general, minibuffer prompts appear when the user expects them; in fact,
they are usually initiated by the user. The case you describe, with the user
attention far from the minibuffer when a prompt appears out of the blue
there, is a special case, and it should be treated as such (in your code,
which defines that dialog). A normal prompt should not especially stand out;
the default prompt face that I see (dark blue) is fine.

Your point about error messages is different (independent). In that case,
the user might not expect to see stuff appear in the echo area, so you might
want to attract attention to it. Nothing prevents particular code from
applying text properties to messages in the echo area. That too is best left
up to the particular application, IMO. The default message face should not
stand out.