Gnumeric 1.7.0, Ubuntu 6.10

The text field at the bottom of each panel of the Preferences window is an interesting approach to providing inline help. However, several major problems cause it to be more confusing than useful.
*   It looks like a text field, for no good reason (similar to bug 122171).
*   It extends completely underneath the category list. This means that the
    selection in the category list affects both controls underneath it *and*
    controls to its right, which is very unusual.
*   It takes up a lot of space that could be used in more effective ways of
    making the Preferences more understandable. For example, without it there
    would be enough room to combine the "Windows" and "Screen" panels.
*   Most importantly, it never contains helpful text. The worst example is "The
    items on this page and its subpages are related to various gnumeric tools",
    closely followed by the two panels for which the field is completely empty.

I suggest the field be removed. When an explanatory sentence or two can make a panel more understandable (which may be true for one or two panels, but certainly not all of them), it should be included as an ad-hoc label in that panel, not as a text field.