Thank you much. Will give this a go at some point. Not done messing with Ubuntu-Mate just yet.
I thought you may like to see how I do my desktop layouts. This pic is of my current Ubuntu-Mate layout, but is exactly how I do it with Debian-Mate and with slightly more work Debian-Xfce.
I found this layout to be very efficient. Two extra panels with just program launchers. Left is internet software, top is media software. These two and sometimes also the bottom panel set to autohide. Can not put a panel to the right as it will interfere with mousing over the scroll bars in programs.