Both relate to problems with Finder that go all the way back to the beginning of OS X. I suppose people used to OS X often become blind to them. #1: Yeah, you'

Both relate to problems with Finder that go all the way back to the beginning of OS X. I suppose people used to OS X often become blind to them. #1: Yeah, you'd think a visible sidebar with Applications visible would make sense. I've seen some of these that have an alias (shortcut) for Applications displayed in the folder, though. The non-obvious workaround I use is to press Command-N to get a new Finder window with a sidebar. #2: Again, Finder. One possibility to recommend--have a Downloads window open in your browser. Then, even if the Downloads window for Finder hides itself, a visible connection can be made to the new file. Double-click in the Downloads window or, as I prefer, right-click=>Show in Finder. I ignore the bounce from Downloads on the dock, and just treat it as a visual indicator of download completion, not an inducement to click like a normal bounce.