Emphasis on inline code by modifying common.tex

I'd like some discussion on this...
I find it difficult in the PDF to distinguish inline code when it is only monospaced, so I have been adding emphasis - for example changing all ==printOn:== to ""==printOn:=="".   This is fairly easy to do, and I find it easy to type on the run, but I wonder if there isn't a better way, like modifying common.tex. Or is the principle to have common.tex and common as possible between different Pillar installations?
cheers -ben