Hello,
I don't know if this is possible (because my pd development skills
are null), but is there a way for you developers to code a specific box which the sliders/bangs/etc could be set in so that when you look at the parent abstraction, it will look exactly like how you set it up in the child rather than appearing all scrunched up? The box could set the pixel dimensions of the parent object in some way, and things that the user didn't want to show in the parent could be left outside of the box. If it could be done then the pd-design/layout would look much cleaner and much more flexible. I hope this makes sense to more than just me. -Mark .K