[australis]

I have similar experiences with the multi-pane layout - powerful, but cumbersome to micromanage (mainly because the target area for a mouse re-size is so small). For some reason I find the Ctrl+Shift+{#} keyboard shortcut awkward to use as well, but it might just be the way I rest my hand on the keyboard.

Anyway, one thing I've though would help would be something like; a middle-click on the scrollbar invokes the resize function between the adjacent panes (as if left-clicking on the resize target area).