closed the lower-right "Dock" because the almighty software didn't deem me worthy enough to enlarge the layers part to a size more than half-an-inch in height. which combination of headstands and jumping-jacks do i need to do to get it back? a reference to the relevant chapter and verse of the holy dOCumEnTaTioN would also suffice.
GIMP is free—so why are you complaining? you're right, no-one should ever make anything of any quality unless they're paid in hard cash, and charities are immoral and redundant.
It is not really anything to do with free. Gimp comes from twenty something years ago when computers had small displays and things were generally simpler.
It would really help if you stated your operating system, some things are easier in linux than Windows and MacOS often does not work at all.
If you have screwed up the docks, it might be better to go back to default setup. Especially for Windows.
Edit -> Preferences -> Interface -> Window Management then click on Reset Saved Window Positions to Default Values
I dislike the Gimp 2.10 default, too much notice taken of Photoshop wannabees. I have mine very Gimp 2.8 - ish Tabs moved around and many closed as being of little use to me. Not for everyone, it is a matter of choice.
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A couple of old videos, but who knows, might help, in a general context.
On a smaller computer
https://youtu.be/8M2P0N-qhm0
moving tabs around
https://youtu.be/01PeLL1F8Kg
See
https://docs.gimp.org/en/gimp-concepts-docks.html
The Gimp UI is very customizable. Personally, I find that on the vertically challenged displays that have become the norm, I can use a lot more horizontal space for the toolbox so I eventually settled on this: