First feature request done
I've stripped out the old "progress bar" system, which wasn't working properly anyway, and replaced it with an enhanced version of the "stepDots" functionality that I was already using to signal progress for an AJAX operation. This now appears in yellow over the top of the target element (the element that will be changed by the results of the AJAX request), and it also gives more informative messages. The old code has been stripped out. Tested on four browsers, and working.
I also fixed a display bug in the size of select elements in forms -- they're now the same width as other elements. In non-FF browsers, though, I'm still seeing the left border of the record table bleeding through the edit and view forms when you're working on a record. I really have to figure out what's causing this, and fix it. I think it might be because of the negative left margin I'm setting on the view/edit forms; the underlying table border may be showing through because it's structurally outside the form, so the form can't obscure it, somehow. Most annoying.