Another Shield Idea: Get Rid of Them

Chip Scheide thinks that we should get rid of shields altogether:

Shields - get rid of them!

I would suggest as a replacement : color code/pattern code (combination?) the older style corner style marker to indicate what properties are set.
programmer settable colors - similar to method editor.

the shields are cludgy at best - and get in the way - MOST of the time.

working with forms with well over a 2 (sarcasm) - but in reality over 40 or so - objects the shields are worse than useless they make it difficult to impossible to work with the form.