Well... IMHO the status bar layer stuff is very good and useful. I'm using it all the time, and I'm the guy who coded up the actual layers dialog. It actually gives good status info on the layers of items as you select them. Thus I think it's still very appropriate for the status bar.

I'm getting my dev environment updated now (my Fink-based approach on the mac here kept me stuck at GTK+ 2.6, etc), and once that's done my first task is getting back on UI improvements.

I'll be attacking the toolbars first, then moving on to other things for dynamic layout and use efficiency. So the sort of feedback you're giving is very useful.

Thanks.