▪ New features.
I don’t really think the way you’ve integrated the new features into the interface is bad. Perhaps it’s strange that it starts by loading all the colors stacked, but I don’t feel it’s a problem. Anyway, I’ve put together a small mockup to help you brainstorm ideas.
▪ Indexed images.
English isn’t my first language, so I misunderstood something you said earlier.
To provide better context, at that moment, I thought it would be great to be able to manipulate the palettes of images created with this tool as easily as color samples are rearranged.
(In the production of this type of graphics, it’s often necessary to respect a specific order in color entries, either to share a global palette or to identify the transparency mask color. But, as I mentioned, all of this arose from a mistaken assumption.)
▪ PAL or ACT files.
I must confess that I’m not familiar with the technical characteristics of these formats, so it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to provide an answer in this context. I apologize.