The columns were a share of the viewport, which is not a measurement of
anything. A 900x900 window -- an ordinary shape -- gave the properties column
198px, in which "Loosen the starting image" wrapped over three lines and a
section heading broke mid-word; 375px put three columns side by side with
clipped headings and a preview no wider than a thumbnail. A panel is now as wide
as a settings row needs, and below 760px it stops taking space from the centre
and overlays it instead.
The element decides what is OPEN and the stylesheet decides how it is DRAWN, so
entering that mode closes both panels and only one opens at a time -- two
overlays over a narrow centre is the same problem with an extra step. What was
open is restored on the way out, and none of it touches the remembered
preference: a window being small is not the user changing their mind.
The rails paint above the overlay. Without that the panel covered the only
control that closes it, which is the exact fault this arrangement exists to
avoid, arriving by a different route the moment the panel stopped taking its own
space.
Also: the prompt was holding 38% of the height for two lines of text. The result
gets the room; the divider is still draggable.