Just want to comment that I've not had internet access for the last week so have not seen these posts, I would have responded had I known.
Lots of good comments and will I'll sort it out. My first thought was to compress the search field but that would probably only add one more slot. The raised Search field is a better idea and I'll incorporate that into the mod very soon. Also for the next release, I've added functionality where the more you use a tool/weapon the better you become at maintaining it. Each level of a perk decreases tool/weapon degradation rate by 1% (total 50%).
cheers