How does the star field work? I presume it uses the number on which it is based to size an array of blue star characters. By using the same technique, but indexing an array of different coloured stars you would achieve exactly what I want and have a column type which could be used for any purpose where a clear visual indicator was wanted. I don't see how this would be affected in any way by the use of grids unless Koval has to do very complicated things with colour blending to make the stars blue at the moment. I have never suggested that the colour coding be the only indicator of the value - in fact in my previous post I explicitly pointed out that the underlying columns would still be available for inspection when selected.
As for your last point, that is exactly what I am asking for, if you look at the second of the mockups I attached. What I would like though is for that column to make use of colour since that makes it far easier to recognise at a glance (see most guides to UI design). We do not argue that the + and - in the tag browser should be grey rather than green and red because colour blind people won't be able to see the difference, instead we use colour to give an immediate visual representation of whether something is included or excluded which the majority of users will find useful.
This thread has been really useful for me in terms of clarifying my thinking on the topic, and how it could be implemented, thank you to all contributors. As I said, I think the real issue is whether there is any interest in having a colour indicator amongst other people - if so I don't see that implementing it by analogy to the star column would be that hard, if not I guess I will have to get the Python manual out and see how true that sweeping statement is
