See also latest FFF: The GUI will be reworked.

Yes, but I don't think the idea is to change the look and feel too much. It is to make it more intuitive, and to add new and useful features. See, e.g., https://www.factorio.com/blog/post/fff-170 . Heck, even the latest improvements to the minimap ...

I think that merging is good idea, but do not merge them with possibility of loosing items, like now with ammo, but instead make them average health.
So health of merged items should be: HP=SUM(HP of items)/(number of items).
It will require as many repair packs (more or less, depends on rounding ...

I really want deconstruction time for everything to be instant. I don't feel it adds anything to the gameplay.

I think the delay is not for game play, but rather, for making sure you don't accidentally delete something you don't mean to delete.

In that case, a menu option to deactivate it would ...

Some suggestions and alternatives for item merging:

1. Make merging items optional: perhaps whilst holding a damaged item and holding down shift-ctrl (or whatever), clicking on another damaged item of the same type merges them. Also, add a key combo (e.g. alt-ctrl) so that if you click on one ...

Thank you for this mod! Took me long enough to find. Getting rid of objects has been a pain, and I don't consider it a difficulty that adds to my enjoyment of the game like some people on other threads have been arguing (it seems to me that a lot of people here think that more effort = more fun ...