I know I’m a bit late, but here’s my response to Genete’s changes to the canvasview. In general, I really like it! I think it will make the canvas easier to use for new and infrequent users (like me). I also think we should drop the “caret menu” and simply have an ordinary menu above the new button row, like other programs. I think that will also make the canvas easier to use for new and infrequent users.
When it comes to the current icons and placement of the buttons, I am a bit worried. The new icons for the toggle buttons are a vast improvement over the old ones, but I’m worried they still might not be clear enough. Although, honestly, I don’t see anyway to improve them. In the bottom part, the navigation buttons (goto start, end, next/previous frame, next/previous keyframe) seem to be mixed with the play button on the left and the animation button on the right. I would expect them to be placed together. Am I alone in this? We also now have two stop buttons for the animation, that is, the combined play/stop button and the stop button right bottom. This seems also to mess with the icon on the play button.
My proposal would be to have three buttons on the bottom right, next to the time silders: a separate play and stop button and the refresh button next to it; and to have the six navigation buttons (start, previous keyframe, previous frame, next frame, next keyframe, end) on the bottom left, next to the time silders. And move the keyframe lock and the animate button to the new top button bar. Is that understandable, reasonable?
Besides that, some unrelated tweaking remarks. Is it possible to have a bit more spacing around the toggle buttons? They are barely recognizable as toggle buttons. Given that they are unrelated , is it possible to have some marker (a vertical bar/seperator?) between the toggle buttons, the quality buttons, the grid buttons, and the onion buttons? Is there a reason not to use an entry with spin buttons for the low resolution stuff? That way is more consistent with the quality entry, and an extra label “Quality” might also make stuff clearer.
Anyway, my remarks should not be taken as general criticism since I really support this new direction! As a side note, can we now also have a default/persistent low quality setting? I am getting really annoyed with switching to “high” quality with every new canvas window! 
Keep up the good work!
G.
