I just noticed something:

When I go to modify field contents there seems to be a pause and the status area shows I'm editing, shows "current record" and is waiting for a submit

step. (displays a button to submit)

I dont think Ive noticed this before.

Does that sound correct?

Have I overlooked something?

Can you post a screen shot?

Here is what I'm looking at.

Again, I didn't notice it until today.

So, anytime I go to a new record and click on a field this is what comes up.

While I have you.. Im also wondering about a good read to give me some insight on reporting.

This image is a report and there should be a month field (calc), the only thing that I can figure is the month and most of the other reports are sorted by calculation fields. Is this the issue here?

Well, you never mentioned you were using Instant Web Publishing.

The status panel on the left can be set to hide or show by using the small black triangle on the divider bar at the top of the window.

My apologies, I assumed I wouldn't have to say due to where this is posted.

Thing of it is: it's not the pane on the side its the pausing of the whole page that seems to be waiting on a "commit"- I'm guessing.

Is it normal for the solution to act in this manner?

Yes, that is the way IWP works. A web browser cannot be truly interactive with the database as the FM client can be.