I am glad you understand the way things are in regards to navigation. There is no mix or match without hacking.
PhotoPost Pro 8.2 which should be out in a few days may enable you to do something like what you want without it being a hack. Well it would be a plugin but you would be using the new plugin system kinda the same thing as
vb. We will enable you to plugin code to various areas of our apps making things flexible for you and easier to upgrade in the future. We would not support your plugins just like
vb but it gives you some flexibility more than you have now.
You can try making your menubar template this to try and achieve something like your picture but aside from that there is nothing else I can add to this discussion.
Code:
Content visible to verified customers only.