First, can you add an option to keep the dock and icons from disappearing? I don't want to have to mouse toggle, or move the mouse to the edge of the screen every time I start to do something. I don't want it to stay on top of other windows, just not disappear from the desktop. Besides my mouse tray is crooked, and the mouse runs toward the start button every time I let it go.
You are thinking of the Always On Bottom option available under the settings panel -> General -> Z-Level. However, the Always On Bottom option is not fully complete yet because I have to do some polishing to fix the flickering that can occur sometimes. You can still try it out, though.
Second, I have been trying to find a way to get my dock to look like the icons were orbiting empty space, no circle or background. As seen in the pic, from this other pos
Go to the settings panel -> Background -> Normal Opacity and set it to zero and there will be no background.