The multiple open pages and left to right orientation serves many purposes: comparison of similar pages; refactoring source and destinations; inputs and outputs of computations.
Managing the complement of open pages should not require the forethought and obscure workarounds of the current system. What we have now only shows that something awesome is possible. It is not yet awesome.
One should be able to backup (browser history) and scroll through lots of pages but the notion of focus, and moving focus with arrow keys is only an implementation expedient.
As we feel our way into the Wants and Needs of a federation, we have discovered a handful of workarounds for missing features. These are dangerous moves and may stop working or do damage someday. However, they do allow us to survive making content in a futuristic world.
Flags should be the one "pervasive" graphical element. They stand for a source of authority, the "speaker" in a community of speakers, and are always a link "up the chain" to that source of authority.
Hover text and key commands are unimportant implementation shortcuts.
The journal (history) is part of a page and is made always visible to emphasize that it is always there. If were made faint, like finger prints on a well handled document, that would be fine. Redundant actions should "rub off" eventually.
SFW is a place to have and share materials of influence (data, visualizations, research methods and results, point and counterpoint).
We'll be developing and refining personas who will be the imagined actors as we develop more advanced uses cases. (Shift-click to see multiple personas.)
The information architecture of a site is really the responsibility of the author/editor.
The visual metaphors should convey immediately what resources the author has available for constructing that architecture. And, the reader should recognize immediately the author's intent in their use.
Plugin authors should find available css well organized and fit for purpose. A clear distinction between functional and fashionable css should make some branding/re-skinning straightforward.
I've inched my way into visually and operationally supporting federation. Often I live with confusing mechanisms waiting to see if they become less confusing over time. Some have, but not all. My modest dom/css have also been a handicap.
One suggestion has been to make all edits browser-local edits until one chooses to save them somewhere. However, as I understand browser local storage, it remains tied to the site of origin.