Both HP printer control language and Postscript can easily handle what you have in mind. Since I've always had HP printers, I tend towards the first solution, but I've also set it up for Postscript when necessary. Like you I find it easier to look at code with 'green bars' than otherwise---although they were light gray, not green! I might even have a copy of something I wrote long ago called hprint or some such that has this as an option. I used it as a catch all for printer tricks that I wanted/needed...