I dunno where this should go? Sounds hacky, so hacks it is!
2 hours of hackin' away in Tampermonkey later... and I still might make a few tweaks but.. at least it feels tolerable on my massive 32-inch screen...
I've read all the reasons for the changes... (in the now closed thread... Wish I had known! Channels has been so stable that, funny enough, I haven't needed to visit the community much recently... )
Beyond the emptiness, my extremely neurodivergent brain just can't handle the unevenness of the columns (or the orange icon in the upper right...) I appreciate you trying new stuff & making changes that (hopefully) will improve the experience for some/most folks, but... yeah... +1 for the old way.
Oddly enough: chaos was waaaay more comforting to me than order! And nicer to look at on a massive screen (where I do 99.999999% of my server interaction).
I sincerely wish we could pin quick actions/shortcuts to actions on the sidebar. I find myself forcing Personal Media pruning far more often than I should, but I'm having to resort to keeping a 2nd tab open for quick access. That might at least make all this somewhat worth it to me...
Life goes on! is what I will continue to repeat to myself until I get used to it...