[viraptor]

I feel like half the things you describe as needing to do at runtime are ok to exist in the declarative QML, but as a property with a signal. Position? Property. Basic/advanced view? Property. Splitter config? Property. Etc.

Leaving some things as parameters that can be adjusted in the model doesn't make the GUI not declarative. Preferences are just fine in a declarative world. Some things are harder than others, so list views that handle very generic data may need to be built manually, but those are exceptions.