Yeah. I'd like to make a final decision about the dialog/not dialog
thing before. That seem an interesting problem for usability/ephy list
too.

I don't think the current toolbar editor can be made to work right
without window manager assistance. As a general rule 
override redirect (GTK_WINDOW_POPUP) windows are always broken 
unless you have a pointer grab.

(Issues include: not moving with browser window, being on all
workspaces, being above/below windows it should not be above/below, 
etc.)

The way to make the current editor work right would be to make it a
child window of the browser window (i.e. a widget inside the browser
window) instead of a separate toplevel window.

How does phoenix implement this? There toolbar editor is pretty
similar and appears as a sheet as does the ephy toolbar editor...

It's easy for them because they have to support html layers. They have
a container that with a put(x,y) api and a way to set ZOrder of
layers. I guess the only way to get this working in ephy would be to
use a custom container in the window :(

In alternative we could think to a different interface. Replace the
whole web page space or use a gtkpaned like the old sidebar is
certainly easier to code, but probably not as good :/

if memory serves me correctly, the mac replaces the content view area
with the available toolbar items ( at least in finder).

The main objection to using a dialog is that in a sense i think we
should impose a toolbar editting mode (though modes are bad in general
in this case it's probably preferable). 

I'll try to make my way down to the computer store today or tommorow
to check out the intricacies of the mac design.

oh btw i still would prefer the current design if it could be fixed.
What are the odds of getting a window hint for such a window? It would
be really nice. Mac OsX using a similar technique for some dialogues
as i recall.

/me has visions of toolbar editor window shadows over the main ephy
window, oh that would be grand.... 

I made that a normal window. It doesnt look that bad to me this way.
But Dave, if you think it raises usability problems please open a bug
about them.

I don't really have the motivation to update right now, but my gut
instinct is that for now, this is the best we can do, but if/when we
get a window hint that lets us create a sheet style widget, we should
switch to it instead.