diff --git a/ui/src/components/OperationPanel.jsx b/ui/src/components/OperationPanel.jsx
index a38c837..4e158ee 100644
--- a/ui/src/components/OperationPanel.jsx
+++ b/ui/src/components/OperationPanel.jsx
@@ -78,10 +78,10 @@ function TextButton({ onClick, children, title, danger }) {
 function Button({ onClick, active, children, title, disabled }) {
   return (
     <button onClick={onClick} title={title} disabled={disabled}
-      className={`px-3 py-1 rounded text-xs whitespace-nowrap transition-colors ${
+      className={`px-3 py-1 text-xs font-medium whitespace-nowrap transition-colors ${
         disabled
           ? (active ? 'bg-gray-300 text-white cursor-default' : 'bg-white text-gray-400 cursor-default')
-          : (active ? 'bg-blue-600 text-white' : 'bg-white text-gray-700 hover:bg-gray-50')}`}>
+          : (active ? 'bg-blue-600 text-white' : 'bg-white text-gray-700 hover:bg-gray-100')}`}>
       {children}
     </button>
   )
@@ -119,9 +119,9 @@ function Field({ label, children, hint, stack }) {
 
 // Same 10px uppercase as the ledger table headers, so the groupings read as part
 // of the same family rather than as a second style.
-function SectionLabel({ children }) {
+function SectionLabel({ children, className = '' }) {
   return (
-    <div className="text-gray-400 uppercase tracking-wide pt-1" style={{ fontSize: '10px' }}>
+    <div className={`text-gray-500 uppercase tracking-wide pt-1 ${className}`} style={{ fontSize: '10px' }}>
       {children}
     </div>
   )
@@ -132,8 +132,8 @@ function SectionLabel({ children }) {
 // says the choice has been made elsewhere.
 function Segmented({ options, value, onChange, disabled }) {
   return (
-    <div className={`inline-flex rounded border divide-x divide-gray-200 overflow-hidden w-auto self-start ${
-      disabled ? 'border-gray-200 bg-gray-50' : 'border-gray-200'}`}>
+    <div className={`inline-flex rounded border divide-x shadow-sm overflow-hidden w-auto self-start ${
+      disabled ? 'border-gray-200 divide-gray-200 bg-gray-50' : 'border-gray-300 divide-gray-300'}`}>
       {options.map(([val, label, title]) => (
         <Button key={val} onClick={() => onChange(val)} active={value === val}
           title={title} disabled={disabled}>{label}</Button>
@@ -145,7 +145,7 @@ function Segmented({ options, value, onChange, disabled }) {
 function Submit({ onClick, children, disabled, busy }) {
   return (
     <button onClick={onClick} disabled={disabled || busy}
-      className="self-start px-4 py-1.5 rounded text-xs font-medium bg-blue-600 text-white hover:bg-blue-700
+      className="self-start px-4 py-1.5 rounded text-xs font-semibold shadow-sm bg-blue-600 text-white hover:bg-blue-700
                  disabled:bg-gray-200 disabled:text-gray-600 disabled:cursor-not-allowed whitespace-nowrap
                  inline-flex items-center gap-2">
       {busy && (
@@ -254,7 +254,7 @@ function IterBreakdown({ currentTotals }) {
   return (
     <div className="mt-2">
       <TextButton onClick={() => setOpen(o => !o)}>
-        {open ? '▾' : '▸'} breakdown by iter
+        {open ? '▾' : '▸'} Breakdown by iter
       </TextButton>
       {open && (
         <table className="mt-1 text-gray-500">
@@ -496,7 +496,7 @@ function TagInput({ value, onChange, tags = [], className }) {
   )
 }
 
-function ScaleLedger({ currentTotals, scaleInputs, setScaleInputs, scalePlug, setScalePlug, targetBasis, setTargetBasis, logMeta = {}, multi, applyMode }) {
+function ScaleLedger({ currentTotals, scaleInputs, setScaleInputs, scalePlug, setScalePlug, targetBasis, setTargetBasis, logMeta = {}, multi, applyMode, settingsExtra }) {
   const valueCol = currentTotals?.valueCol
   const unitsCol = currentTotals?.unitsCol
   const total    = currentTotals?.total || { value: 0, units: 0 }
@@ -884,7 +884,7 @@ function ScaleLedger({ currentTotals, scaleInputs, setScaleInputs, scalePlug, se
           {showAllLines && adjLines.length > MAX_ADJ_LINES + 1 && (
             <tr>
               <td colSpan={measures.length + 1 + (showRunning ? 1 : 0)} className="pr-3">
-                <TextButton onClick={() => setShowAllLines(false)}>▾ collapse the smaller changes</TextButton>
+                <TextButton onClick={() => setShowAllLines(false)}>▾ Collapse the smaller changes</TextButton>
               </td>
             </tr>
           )}
@@ -1013,11 +1013,17 @@ function ScaleLedger({ currentTotals, scaleInputs, setScaleInputs, scalePlug, se
           They used to hand-roll their own label row and hint, with two
           different type sizes and no shared label width, so the two stacked
           into a paragraph of loose words rather than reading as two settings. */}
-      {(plugState || hasExcl || perSlice) && (
-        <div className="flex flex-col gap-2 mt-3 pt-3 border-t border-gray-100">
+      {(plugState || hasExcl || perSlice || settingsExtra) && (
+        // Side by side, not stacked: three one-line settings in a column cost
+        // three rows of a dock that is 260px tall to begin with, and they are
+        // read together anyway -- what absorbs the change, what it is measured
+        // against, and whether it applies once or per slice.
+        <div className="flex flex-wrap items-start gap-x-8 gap-y-2 mt-3 pt-3 border-t border-gray-200">
+          <SectionLabel className="w-full">settings</SectionLabel>
+          {settingsExtra}
 
           {plugState && (
-            <Field label="absorbs" hint={plugState.why}>
+            <Field label="Absorbs" hint={plugState.why}>
               <Segmented
                 value={plugState.value}
                 onChange={setScalePlug}
@@ -1037,7 +1043,7 @@ function ScaleLedger({ currentTotals, scaleInputs, setScaleInputs, scalePlug, se
           )}
 
           {hasExcl && (
-            <Field label="target"
+            <Field label="Target"
               hint={onTotal
                 ? `${exclName} can't move — the forecast absorbs it`
                 : `${exclName} left out — the pivot will show your number plus ${fmtNum(excl.value)}`}>
@@ -1058,7 +1064,7 @@ function ScaleLedger({ currentTotals, scaleInputs, setScaleInputs, scalePlug, se
           )}
 
           {perSlice && (
-            <Field label="per slice">
+            <Field label="Per slice">
               <span className="text-gray-500">figures above are combined totals</span>
             </Field>
           )}
@@ -1272,7 +1278,7 @@ function RequestPreview({ payload, op, versionId }) {
               <span className="font-medium text-gray-700 text-sm">Request</span>
               <span className="font-mono text-gray-600 text-xs truncate" title={line}>{line}</span>
               <div className="ml-auto flex items-center gap-3">
-                <TextButton onClick={copy}>{copied ? 'copied' : 'copy'}</TextButton>
+                <TextButton onClick={copy}>{copied ? 'Copied' : 'Copy'}</TextButton>
                 <button onClick={() => setOpen(false)}
                         className="text-gray-600 hover:text-gray-800 text-lg leading-none">×</button>
               </div>
@@ -1332,6 +1338,15 @@ export default function OperationPanel({
   // operation is named by the tabs beside it.
   const POST = 'Post', POSTING = 'Posting…'
 
+  // Sits with the ledger's own settings rather than under the operation tabs:
+  // it is one line, they are one line, and stacked they cost three rows of a
+  // dock that is 260px tall to begin with.
+  const applyField = multi ? (
+    <Field label="Apply">
+      <ApplyModeChooser op={activeOp} applyMode={applyMode} setApplyMode={setApplyMode} count={slices.length} />
+    </Field>
+  ) : null
+
   const ledger = (
     <>
       {activeOp === 'scale' && (
@@ -1342,6 +1357,7 @@ export default function OperationPanel({
           targetBasis={targetBasis} setTargetBasis={setTargetBasis}
           logMeta={logMeta}
           multi={multi} applyMode={applyMode}
+          settingsExtra={applyField}
         />
       )}
       {activeOp === 'recode' && (
@@ -1367,7 +1383,7 @@ export default function OperationPanel({
                          reference ones operations are normally kept away from,
                          which is the point: a period with no baseline borrows its
                          shape from prior year or plan. */}
-                     <Field label="rows from"
+                     <Field label="Rows from"
                             hint={cloneFrom ? 'only that segment, out of the selection' : undefined}>
                        <select value={cloneFrom} onChange={e => setCloneFrom(e.target.value)}
                                className={`${TEXT} w-48`}>
@@ -1382,7 +1398,7 @@ export default function OperationPanel({
 
                      <SectionLabel>changes</SectionLabel>
 
-                     <Field label="shift dates"
+                     <Field label="Shift dates"
                             hint={shifting
                               ? 'every date moves — select the period you copy FROM'
                               : undefined}>
@@ -1398,7 +1414,7 @@ export default function OperationPanel({
                        </datalist>
                      </Field>
 
-                     <Field label="scale by">
+                     <Field label="Scale by">
                        <input type="number" step="any" value={cloneScale}
                               onChange={e => setCloneScale(e.target.value)}
                               className={`${INPUT} w-28`} />
@@ -1417,6 +1433,12 @@ export default function OperationPanel({
                    </div>
                  } />
       )}
+      {activeOp !== 'scale' && applyField && (
+        <div className="flex flex-wrap items-start gap-x-8 gap-y-2 mt-3 pt-3 border-t border-gray-200">
+          <SectionLabel className="w-full">settings</SectionLabel>
+          {applyField}
+        </div>
+      )}
     </>
   )
 
@@ -1425,7 +1447,7 @@ export default function OperationPanel({
       {/* Tag first: it is the field that gives an adjustment meaning later,
           in the ledger and in the bridge. Completes from initiatives already
           used on this source; free text is still accepted. */}
-      <Field label="tag" stack>
+      <Field label="Tag" stack>
         <TagInput value={opTag} onChange={setOpTag} tags={knownTags}
           className={`${TEXT} w-full`} />
         {opTag.trim() && (
@@ -1441,7 +1463,7 @@ export default function OperationPanel({
           border. The same tags complete from the input's datalist, which
           costs no space and is not capped at six. */}
 
-      <Field label="note" stack>
+      <Field label="Note" stack>
         <input value={note} onChange={e => setNote(e.target.value)}
                placeholder="optional" className={`${TEXT} w-full`} />
       </Field>
@@ -1472,34 +1494,23 @@ export default function OperationPanel({
           The operation used to be a row of tabs buried in the middle column
           with no heading over it, so the panel never said what it was about
           to do until you read the button. */}
-      <div className="flex flex-col gap-2 px-3 py-2 border-b border-gray-200 bg-gray-50/60">
-        <div className="flex items-start gap-4 flex-wrap">
-          <Field label="change">
-            <div className="inline-flex rounded border border-gray-200 divide-x divide-gray-200 overflow-hidden">
-              {['scale', 'recode', 'clone'].map(op => (
-                <Button key={op} onClick={() => setActiveOp(op)} active={activeOp === op}>
-                  <span className="capitalize">{op}</span>
-                </Button>
-              ))}
-            </div>
-          </Field>
+      <div className="flex items-start gap-4 flex-wrap px-3 py-2 border-b border-gray-200 bg-gray-50/60">
+        <Field label="Change">
+          <div className="inline-flex rounded border border-gray-300 divide-x divide-gray-300 shadow-sm overflow-hidden">
+            {['scale', 'recode', 'clone'].map(op => (
+              <Button key={op} onClick={() => setActiveOp(op)} active={activeOp === op}>
+                <span className="capitalize">{op}</span>
+              </Button>
+            ))}
+          </div>
+        </Field>
 
-          {hasSlice && (
-            <div className="ml-auto pt-1">
-              <TextButton onClick={() => setPeek(o => !o)}>
-                {peek ? '▾' : '▸'} {slices.length} {slices.length === 1 ? 'slice' : 'slices'}
-              </TextButton>
-            </div>
-          )}
-        </div>
-
-        {/* Under the operation it qualifies, on the same label column as every
-            other button row -- it used to sit loose in the middle of the strip,
-            where it read as a peer of the operation rather than a setting on it. */}
-        {hasSlice && multi && (
-          <Field label="apply">
-            <ApplyModeChooser op={activeOp} applyMode={applyMode} setApplyMode={setApplyMode} count={slices.length} />
-          </Field>
+        {hasSlice && (
+          <div className="ml-auto pt-1">
+            <TextButton onClick={() => setPeek(o => !o)}>
+              {peek ? '▾' : '▸'} {slices.length} {slices.length === 1 ? 'slice' : 'slices'}
+            </TextButton>
+          </div>
         )}
       </div>
 
@@ -1535,7 +1546,8 @@ export default function OperationPanel({
              style={horizontal
                ? { display: 'grid', gridTemplateColumns: 'minmax(0, 1fr) minmax(15rem, 20rem)', alignItems: 'start' }
                : undefined}>
-          <Block horizontal={horizontal} grow>{ledger}</Block>
+          <Block title={activeOp === 'scale' ? 'Ledger' : `${activeOp} to`}
+                 horizontal={horizontal} grow>{ledger}</Block>
           <Block title="Label this change" horizontal={horizontal}>{labelZone}</Block>
         </div>
       )}