Hello there,
We have moved almost all our photo editing into Affinity Photo (on beta 1.7.0.350 at the moment). Before that, we used other software such as Lightroom, Photoshop, Darktable and the Gimp. We were also lucky to grab a copy of the Workbook before it went temporarily out of print a month or two ago.
While on Lightroom, a feature that we got so used to was the "Solo Mode". This feature automatically collapses all panels except the working panel, reducing a lot of unnecessary clutter, and making navigation easier. We can't seem to do something similar on Affinity Photo's develop mode, even manually collapse a panel without disabling it. After getting used to the clutter-free editing with the Solo Mode, living without it gets so annoying, and I'm sure we are not alone.
It would be a much more pleasant editing experience if something similar can be implemented as an option. Thanks a lot, and please keep up the good work!