Notepad2 has an option to "show whitespace", where tabs are displayed as red arrows and spaces are displayed as red dots. Just imitate this and you're done. No need for such lengthy discussions.
PS: Tabs are whitespace and as such should normally be rendered as 'white space', meaning that this option should not be turned on by default. _______________________________________________ Mc mailing list http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/mc