Thanks for the feedback.
Of course, they are not used anywhere else at this point just because the inspector is the first tool that was integrated into Pharo :).
You say they are meaningless, but in fact you seem to have no problem with what they are and how they work. And you found it out by yourself. I agree that it is a different interface than anything else out there, but that is not a negative thing. Actually, we also tried other variations, but this was the one we stuck with, and most people seem to not have a problem with it. What do you mean by "video controller buttons"?
And, you are right in that the contrast is not proper in the Pharo theme. This will change. In the meantime, here is how they look like in the WhitespaceTheme
Is this better?
Cheers,
Doru