Our data indicate that most people use only about 6 different commands in a given session. Hence, the toolbox has a linear list of named commands that accommodates about this number of commands. This list also reflects the ordered steps one must take to accomplish a given task. However, you can still switch to the traditional grid view, if you wish. This grid view only contains the commands you need for your task, reducing screen real estate.
That said, we'd be interested in hearing people's ideas on how to further improve the workflow efficiency with the new design. Email the project's email address if you'd like to provide feedback.
Examples are provided for each tutorial -- each task set has an associated wiki page.
We can't do a plug-in at this time because the GIMP plug-in architecture doesn't allow us to deeply customize the toolbox like we have.