@pixelated
In UT we have long and short swipe from both right and left sides.
Inverting the drawer will just invert the problem.
I think what is asked here is the same thing as "I wanna go home".
There are two main drives that I see in this kind of requests:
First is the will for customization
Then there is the comfort of what is known (frequent comparison with Android)
About the first one having choice is nice but having something working is even better. And customization requires lot of work to extract a generic API exposing in a secure manner the various aspect that people might wanna customize.
Customization and security don't get along very well, it requires persuasion to make it work 😉
About the other one I know people having used both iOS and Android and they all wish some features from one system and others from the second. No one will ever be happy with what he's given.
But the best is try and choose what is the best for one self.
Of course suggestions are welcome, it helps improve our system but there are tough choices to make.
Mine is stability over showing off.
Android is all about showing off, new features, new UI, new UX but always with lack of stability.
What I like with Linux on my computer is stability I want a system I can rely on to do the job and thus allowing me to do mine.
That's the same with my phone.
In this manner I like how UBports made the choice of working on behind-the-scene features with what I consider a small meaningless UX change with the app drawer.
The feature request is interesting IMO but I think what the foundation is focused on is catching up with 20.4, increase stability and better ports.
Customization will be a priority some day but I guess it's up to volunteers to make a proposal if they want to be able to add new UI/UX alternatives.