Before anyone gets their knickers in a bundle, this is not yet another 'CHANGE/FIX the UI to suit MY desires!!!!' sort of suggestion.
This is a much humbler request.
Basically, I prefer to play DF with the play box fullscreened, the map and UI hotkey list hidden. It's pretty sweet - until I try to do anything, especially near/at the rightmost edge of the map.
Then, it's just annoying. The UI hotkeys, which I've already spent a good long time memorizing, pop up. Okay, no biggie. Except that when they pop up, they shift the focus of the main play screen out of the way.
My simple, humble suggestion/request: please allow me to turn this off. If there is any way to make this behavior optional, I think it would add a lot to the gameplay's immersion; at the very least, it would remove the frustration of pressing 'v' to see what a critter/mob is all about, only to have to re-find it when the hotkey box pops up.
I'd really, really like to play DF without having to sacrifice 1/3 of the game's window's real estate. I doubt that I'm alone on this one.
I know less about programming than I do about what happens inside the center of the sun; is this an unfeasible idea? Just, I dunno, an option to NOT give the help window when trying to play? I don't expect any changes whatsoever to how the UI is laid out, or the hotkeys themselves, or any such - there are, as has been explained (over and over again!) no real reasons to change the actual UI until the game is much nearer completion - but wouldn't it be nice (especially for veteran players) if the flow of the game weren't disrupted every. single. time. you do anything?
Just tossin' that one out to the wolves.