tips for editing sets of similarly named files

[Kevin Buchs]

Wondering if anyone has suggestions for handling editing multiple files at
once which have similar names, that are very long and differ near the end
of the name. I find myself doing this frequently in my work these days.
Just yesterday I embarrassed myself quite a bit by editing the wrong file.

The files may be in separate directories or the same one. I know what I am
opening the files which is which, but then as I hop between buffers and
list open buffers (C-x C-b) it becomes a challenge to know which is which.

I found a posting here on the subject from 2008, which suggests M-x
toggle-uniquify-buffer-names. However, that doesn't seem to do anything
when I tried it.

I've used GNU emacs for decades, but never heard of a good solution for
this problem, but I am always discovering new features. Since I have used
it for so long, that means I'm getting older and my brain is declining and
might need more help like this to avoid mistakes.

A couple of potential solutions comes to mind:
1. buffer names chosen upon finding (opening) a file
2. coloring buffer windows differently (highlighting, text or background)
3. using read-only-mode in buffers containing files I don't want to change.

I think I can write the code to do these things, but I am wondering if
there is something built in or an add-on package to handle my challenge.

Thank you.
Kevin Buchs