The whole "transformation" business is not well organized. There is a move tool (cross hairs on the top of the toolbox)that doesn't do much, just move. Normally people do move/rotate/scale in one operation. That's why I never use that tool, use transform instead.
But even in the transformation there is no universal transfer like in many other apps, where there is a special handle for rotation. What's the point of a separate "move", when you can move (and rotate) in "scale"? Other then the still inability to lock the pivot point, which makes moving the layer instead of the pivot point on small objects very hard indeed. So I ended up with using scale had free.
The whole thing would not be needed if the top cross could move/rotate/scale or free transform. It could be a switch of modes on the bottom. Layer vs. selection is not a problem. In other words, why invent a bicycle?
