Yes, that's really what I was trying to accomplish, Vici!
I find the edit area both too long and too narrow on my browser (Firefox; used with high security/privacy settings, blocking pesky elements like flash and scripts). I didn't know if it was a problem on other browsers.
If we could shorten the length of the edit area so that the formatting buttons at the top and the preview button at the bottom were both visible at the same time, my problem would be solved!
Still, a second preview button wouldn't hurt (would it?).