okay, sorry about the long summary :)

using a x-small floating panel is "good" for screen real-estate for me, top
left corner and floating, until I wanted to resize it to "normal" when I
realized that its not possible to reach the properties of a panel with the
mouse anymore due to that said size.

(attaching a cut of the panels look)

the panel is a foot menu, a workspace-switcher and some quick-launchers,
thats it.

Im pretty sure theres a usability issue in a case like this.  (perhaps you
should be able to reach the panel properties with a rightclick on the
launchers?? )