You're not weird, I would like to see this too (if indeed MC doesn't already do it this way which seems odd).
On your button suggestion, what toolbar would we add those buttons to. MC doesnt have toolbars, does it?
It sure does! There is one at the top and one at the bottom, and both are customizable. They just don't offer an "Increase Thumbnail Size" button and a "Decrease Thumbnail Size" button (irritatingly).
To customize them, just point up at the top toolbar (such as at the word "File") and right-click. Pick "Customize Toolbar" to get the toolbar dialog. Same for the bottom toolbar (which is just the bottom bar where the number of files, etc is displayed. This is (of course) just one way to get to the dialog. You can also get there through Tools --> Options.
I add a number of useful image manipulation buttons to mine. On the top bar I have the "List Style: Toggle List Style" button (to quickly switch the view from Details to Thumbnail-types), in addition to the standard File, Edit, View, Player, etc.
On the bottom bar I have:
Back
Forward
Separator (Sep)
Mode
Media Library
Playing Now
Sep
Tag Info
Import Media
Artist Info
Sep
Resize Image
Rotate Left
Rotate Right
Acquire Images
It makes doing simple tasks like Rotating Images, etc work a lot nicer. I really wish the toolbar was FAR more customizable. For example, two things I'd REALLY like to see are:
1. I'd like to be able to add any of the standard automation commands (the mjextman.exe commands) to the toolbar.
2. I'd like to be able to add a button that launches the selected file (or files) in an external App (such as Photoshop).