Hello @watery Thanks for the feedback!
I’ve tried to answer the questions on https://extensions.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Extension/WhatsNewUI/#HFAQ
Regarding the UI improvements planned, see What's new UI Proposal & HTML, CSS code
We’re also planning to move the news to the drawer by opening a secondary drawer when you click on “what’s new” instead of navigating away to a new page.
Let me know what you think and what are the options you’d be interested in.
Thx