R C-R

That is why I suggested reading the relevant help topics. It only takes a few minutes & should help you understand how to best use each picker.

In Preferences  (or Settings) User Interface there is an option to use Color or Mono icon style.
Ha! Walt beat me to it by a few seconds.

That applies to the Toolbar but I think the OP is asking about grouping tools on the Tools panel.
For that panel, other than the ones Affinity already groups together on the same icon (like for quick shapes) we can't make our own custom groups but we can add dividers & also use multiple columns to group tools in various ways. For example, this is how I have set up the Tools panel for the Designer persona in AD V2 on my Mac:

Thanks. I think the "keep windows" is a confusing wording. "Remember and reopen documents" or something like that would be better

I think it means that any open windows will be 'kept' (reopened) on the next startup of the app but I am not certain of that or how relevant it is for the Affinity apps since, at least on Macs if not also Windows, there is the Preferences/Settings > Reopen document(s) on startup item.

But Windows users would not be negatively affected by giving the functionality to Mac users, and there are existing examples of the functionality in Affinity on Mac (as stated in previous posts in this thread) so I find Serif's decision bizarre.

There is a way in V2 using the Scale Override options in the Transform panel, but it only works for 'aspect correct' scaling.

Whaaaat???
If you got beef with me just tell me so.🤣
 
 

My suggestion worked when I tried it, and I think it should have worked for you, too.
But no, you cannot do it with simple Curve objects, as a Node can only be part of a single Curve. That's why I merged the two Curve objects into a Curves object.

Does your scanner, when powered up, not show as a device in AP in File > Acquire Image ...?

I find that I have to Click and Drag. A simple Click and Hold will change the colour but no "magnifier" shows up unless I drag.

I guess I was not clear either. What I mean is there does not seem to be any technical reason why this can't be implemented in the Affinity apps, or at least the Mac versions. So I still wonder if this was just an omission or what.
EDIT: I just did a quick check & there are at least two places in V2 where alt/option changes a menu item. One is in the File menu: with Option held down New... changes to New From Last Preset...
The other is in the Mac Affinity Designer 2 or other V2 app menu Quit changes to Quit and Keep Windows. I'm not really sure what that is for, though.
For both, the keyboard shortcuts displayed in the menu dynamically changes to include ⌥ (the Mac symbol for the Alt/Option key), so it seems not only is it technically possible to make this work with Layer > New Layer, it could work dynamically like the others.

I have Layer > New Layer on my Mac with UK English. opt/alt key has no effect on that.
There is also New Layer in the context menu of any item in Layers panel. It is affected by opt/alt in the same way as the button at bottom of Layers panel.
 

It just takes the one click, with the Ctrl key (Windows) or Cmd key (Mac) pressed. You can't get many fewer than that.
Then where would that curve start? You need a click of some kind to position the initial node.
This is all explained above, and in the Help.

… and you can't get many more options … to achieve a specific tool behaviour, @ennuied. Therefore it helps to keep an eye on the available modifier keys listed in the status bar tool tips at the bottom … and to notice the various cursors that change their icon + function with your cursor position even without pressing a key, for instance:
Move Tool:



 
Pen Tool: (most of the various Pen Tool cursors can't get screenshot)

 
Node Tool:

Welcome to the forums @MikeManinger,
Could you post a link or screenshot of this FB add? I've not been able to find the Spline Selection tool you mention, or the FB add.

Just a thought, you're not pressing the equivalent of "alt" (Start? shows up as the windows key on my multi keyboard) on Mac and the curve/object within the layers panel as that'll hide everything else.

In the Context Toolbar what is Tonal Range set to?

There's a major bug. But I usually use Inkscape instead. It has all the functions that Affinity has.

Odd as it may seem, it is because the color picker in the Swatches panel is not a tool in the same sense as the tools in the Tools panel.
I get the same magnifier 'bubble' with the Color Picker Tool that I get with the color picker in the Swatches (or Color) panel, the only difference being that with the former I have to click to change the crosshair to the bubble.

Already filed a day ago 😁

It's still not supported, and we still have no plans to support it. 
Lee

Works fine for me on my Mac, so maybe a Windows only issue?

Thanks. But I think "Node Tool" shouldn't exist, it's primitive.

Wikipedia covers this topic well (and others about HSL/RGB conversions etc)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blend_modes