[Usability] Panel problems

["Mark Knecht" <markknecht gmail com>]

Hi,
   Most likely there is a better place to file this problem to get
some support. Hopefully someone can point me there?

   Today I was using Gnome and selected the wrong icon in the panel. I
clicked on the default System Management drawer and then the shutdown
launcher. When I realized I had done this I didn't want to shut down
do I ended up trying to slide off the shutdown launcher onto the
desktop. BIG MISTAKE.

1) I got the shutdown icon on the desktop - no big deal, but...

2) EVERYTHING else on the panel disappeared. All of my custom drawers
are gone, the system menu is gone, the Gnome main menu is gone and all
application launchers are gone.

   What a mess.

   OK, so my question is at this point is how do I at least get the
panel back to it's default state, and is it possible to get everything
back to where it was before this human error did so much damage? Most
of the apps I start had custom parameters that I no longer remember so
setting them up again will be time consuming and error prone.

   As a usability question, why is the panel so weak when the rest of
Gnome is so strong. We love the environment here at home but all three
of us run into problems with the panel each month.

Thanks,
Mark