tabulated-list.el: It should preserve header line set by derived modes. Also some fontification improvements. 1. Load the attached font-family.el. 2. M-x list-font-families. 3. Note that there is no header line when I explicitly request that I need a header line @ lines 25, 26 in font-family.el (setq tabulated-list-use-header-line nil) (setq header-line-format "Font families") ---------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Apply the attached patch. 5. See that the header line is preserved (and stays put even when the columns are sorted and the buffer is refreshed). 6. Admire the revamped look of header columns. (See the attached screenshot) ---------------------------------------------------------------- edictc.el -- my all new DICT client for Emacs -- uses header lines when in tabulated list mode. (See the attached screenshot.) Btw, the red strip is coming from whitespace mode.