But, I feel as if the toolbar hasn't been considered in terms of user friendliness and purpose.
I get the impression that things end up in the toolbar when there's simply nowhere else to put them. For example, many of the ML based features have been found in the toolbar. This just adds confusion and places clashing icons and functions near each-other. The color switcher is a great feature but it doesn't fit with the rest of the toolbar icons. The ML features are great but I don't use enough of them individually to keep them on the toolbar if they're gonna be greyed out.
Inspired by Pages, I've created a mockup design of what I have in mind.
Ignoring a few visual glitches and some misaligned pixels, this pretty much represents what I wish Pixelmator UI was like. Also notice how the color selector has been split up. This avoids having to click that tiny arrow. And a user could add as many as they like! The toolbar functions are now smaller so more can fit.
The Pixelmator team should include combination toolbar functions. For example, document manipulation, and machine learning functions. Group these together and make them a single toolbar icon. Also, add way way more specific toolbar functions so the user can customize. Here's an example from Pages.
