I too prefer the new compose, my only gripe is the unnecessary collapsing of attaching things other than files on the hard drive. The thing I attach most often is an image at a web address, to do so I have to hover the +, click "insert photo", select the web address option, paste in the web address and then click ok. Far too many steps.
yeah the toolbar is annoying, I have to navigate 2 menus to quote some text.
I'm guessing it's optimized for non-power users, but it should at least be customizable, or better yet learn which icons are most used and bring them to the main toolbar.
I think these are completely intentional. Additional steps made for the few that use that stuff, and hiding out the complexity for the big majority that doesn't want that.
I don't think they would ever create anything without a decent reasoning behind it. May not be your reasoning, but there is one.
Agreed here, same with me. I might end up writing a greasemonkey script for the same soon (quickly insert image via url). If someone is more motivated than me, feel free to do it and share :).