I would like to see a panel available on the new entry screen, similar to the notepad in this very forum under the "My Controls" view.

I would use it every day for:

snippets of frequently used code (like a link to an external site I often reference)
reminders to self about stylesheets (classes I've added)
reminders to self about self-imposed editorial standards like image sizes, phrasing styles, subheadlines,
reminders to self to revisit a topic at some future point
reminders to self to complete tasks, like revisit img alt texts
etc.

Right now I keep this stuff in an unpublished entry, which is a nuisance to flip to when I am working on an entry.

Thanks. AT

Nice suggestion AT

I believe the entire community will appreciate such a facility

Let's see what this great team at 6 Apart is planning for us

Happy blogging,
Mihai Bocsaru

That is a very interesting idea. We have talked about a similar feature on the MT team as well. It would not be private notes, but public ones though. It is a feature we are not planning for the next release however. I will see if I can inspire some plugin developers though to build a more general purpose "Screen Notes" plugin.