There is now a widget in canvas-only mode that shows when you change layer. I wonder if there could be buttons on that widget... if it were possible to put the 4 buttons of a layer on that popup that would make the popup it's own little functional widget next to being good info. Then you could hide/unhide,toggle alphas or lock/unlock when in canvas-only mode! it could ofcourse just be a read-only widget that shows the states (visibility/locks/alpha) in stead. This would make it much more achievable and would also be a functionality boost.
WISHGROUP: Out of scope Sorry, we will not in the near future get down to this.