Flyout menus (very often) opens at center of screen (under wine 1.4.1).

 From:  ttype (STRUBE)
7273.10 In reply to 7273.9 
You could run it as a keyboard shortcut, it toggles the visibility of the side panel on and off.

But I just mentioned that, because Michael probably reads it. And now he knows, that not just the font thing is better in 1.7.37.