Som people complain that the three main punctuation marks (stops, questions, and exclamations) are too granular sometimes to express one's true inflection and degree of pause.
So, I propose red-green-blue colors to denote the degree of stoppage, questioning, and exclamatoriness, respectively, and further propose that punctuation symbols in word processing documents internally store a RGB ordered triplet that can be displayed on screen in whatever format the user chooses.
The standard comma (,) would be coded (64,0,0) and would show up on screen as a dark red symbol (if in RGB punctuation mode) or a regular black comma (if in standard punctuation mode).
A period (.) would be coded (192,0,0) and would be a brighter red object (to alert the reader to stop more), but again, just a black period if viewed in standard mode.
The question mark would be coded (128,128,0) (stop + question) and would be a yellow symbol in RGB punc mode, or just a black question mark in regular mode. More than one question mark (??) would require brighter coding like (128,192,0) and visually would grab the reader's attention even more.
In general, each compound punctuatory symbol (like ???!?!?! or .. or (?) or .......... or !!) that the user types is assigned a RGB coding by the computer as it is typed (or the user can bring up a menu and select the exact hue to perfectly express his/her feelings. The user (or future user) can choose how the computer will display the internally stored punctuation marks:
(A) As colors -- basically rectangular highlighted areas with the shape of the primary punctuation mark outlined into them;
(B) As compound puncs -- e.g. the computer translates (64,183,77) into something like "(???!)";
(C) As standard (the computer displays only the dominant punctuation type, e.g. ? in the above example.)
If someone uses too much punctuation for your taste, simply adjust the brightness setting on your monitor, or switch back to standard punctuation mode.
Thank you.-- phundug, Feb 02 2006random, halfbakery