How can a code editor effectively hint at code nesting level - without using indentation?

Posted by pgfearo on Programmers See other posts from Programmers or by pgfearo
Published on 2011-06-25T20:51:54Z Indexed on 2011/06/26 0:29 UTC
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code

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indentation

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editor

I'm writing an XML text editor that provides 2 view options for the same XML text, one indented (virtually), the other left-justified. The motivation for the left-justified view is to help users 'see' the whitespace characters they're using for indentation of plain-text or XPath code without interference from indentation that is an automated side-effect of the XML context.

I want to provide visual clues (in the non-editable part of the editor) for the left-justified mode that will help the user, but without getting too elaborate.

I tried just using connecting lines, but that seemed too busy. The best I've come up with so far is shown in a mocked up screenshot of the editor below, but I'm seeking better/simpler alternatives (that don't require too much code).

code editor nesting level indication

[Edit]

Taking the heatmap idea (from: @jimp) I get something like this:

enter image description here

or even these alternates:

enter image description here

enter image description here

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