I tried using syntax highlighting on private/protected/public *elements*, but the highlighting includes elements from
other classes, not just the class that I'm currently editing.

For instance, with the following code:

  public Date date = new Date();

If public elements are displayed with a green background, "date" and both occurances of "Date" will have a a green
background because "Date" is a public class and "Date()" is a public constructor.

I don't find this highlighting of public classes and public members of other classes all that useful.  Actually, I find
it quite distracting.

It would be far more useful to highlight only the members of the current class.