Thanks RobertT, I'd love to build my own list-panel component if I just had a starting point. Wish I could see the source code of the OOTB one. Did I miss a KB article or How-To somewhere that shows a basic structure for a component like this? I'm not a fan of calling "black box" code that I can't see and is not documented, like the message-list-panel, so I'd be happy to build my own.
UPDATE: I've switched over to LiQL and an API v2 style of query for my message list and that has given me SO MUCH more flexibility in what I'm displaying. I think I've got the list built that I want to display, now I just need to learn the CSS/wrappers/style parts to display my widget like I'd like it to display....getting closer
