I also strongly dislike the bottom bar. I don’t think a static bar is necessary at all, but if it must remain, I suggest it be as small as possible. It takes up a lot of viewing area.
Is it just me or does it seem like the bottom bar is smaller now?
Wow, you guys are a finicky lot! 
On my screen, the bottom bar takes up the equivalent of maybe 3 lines of posting text…I don’t mind the extra little bit of scrolling due to that.