I just booted TWS up again after a lengthy sabbatical (from TWS). Wow. What a for-shit interface! So clumsy, I have to wonder...is it deliberate? A study in making-things-awkward-to-look-pro kind of marketing? Really, it boggles the mind. Now, let the flaming begin.
It's been like that for a very long time! I don't understand how they can continually make such an ugly product. Every new release they manage to screw something up technically to boot. I think it's the "Canadian Way" or something.. I've refused to use the thing since my first look at it. It's very easy to get a third party app that interfaces IB's API and have a much better time of it every day. Sierracharts is quite on a much higher aesthetic level and it works quite well for me all the time, there are plenty of others... Using IB's data is asking for problems as well. If volume calculations are part of what you do, then by all means, feel free to pay a provider for "real" data... Otherwise, who really cares about the TWS if one has to only deal with it to logon and connect to your trading environs of choice? Actually even doing that is enough to kick my day off to a bad start..
I really like it. Been using it for 10 years. It's come along way, especially the charting. You might try Mosaic/IBIS- their latest platform. It might be more up your alley.
I think it's the best I've used. It's tight, very effective with screen space and easily shows quotes on many symbols. You can configured each page to show just about anything, including all the various order types and order attributes.