A screenshot of my desktop configuration. I've been using this setup for a couple of years already and it works great.

The main panel is on the bottom at 70% lenght, then I have a panel at top left just for desktop workspaces, which I use extensively, and a panel at top right for the system tray.

I do not have any window compositing, I do not use fullscreen windows so I removed the maximize button from the window decoration, I do not have icons on the desktop so I disabled them (I have ~/tmp/ for that), and I have a keyboard shortcut for just anything I can imagine...

Hope someone finds my setup useful or it serves as a new inspiration for something even better.