Juri Linkov <juri@linkov.net> writes:

>>>>> What I liked about the 'display approach is that it didn't seem to
>>>>> require changes in the describe-* commands to work...
>>>>
>>>> That is a good point, and it would make C-h v make work automatically.
>>>> But 'display properties are kinda awkward -- for one, the cursor moves
>>>> over them in a single skip, so they're a bit confusing in that respect.
>>>
>>> Yes, that's true.  So...perhaps it's better to just ditch that idea.
>>
>> Just display spaces over every '-' character (and upper-case letters
>> at word beginnings):
>>
>> (concat (propertize "f" 'display "F")
>>         "ill"
>>         (propertize "-" 'display " ")
>>         (propertize "c" 'display "C")
>>         "olumn")
>
> Actually I meant not concat, but set-text-properties:
>
> (let ((name "fill-column"))
>  (set-text-properties 0 1 '(display "F") name)
>  (set-text-properties 4 5 '(display " ") name)
>  (set-text-properties 5 6 '(display "C") name)
>  (insert name))

I think that's a good idea.