Here's another usability suggestion (based on my "older" clients' dislike of hovering)

In 5.5.1, you guys just changed the Edit button to be a clickable link to go directly into Edit mode, can you do the same so that the Editing button is a link that exits Edit Mode?

Not a major improvement, but it might help smooth over the transition to 5.5 from previous versions that had that implementation.

I'm actually getting used to the hovering, and 5.5.1 is a major improvement with the delay of the the hover menus. Kudos!

[EDIT] I just realized it's not that simple. If you haven't changed anything on the page, you just get the Exit Edit Mode button when you hover. If you have changed something, you get the Version/Publish info.

Here's my REVISED suggestion, based on those two scenarios.

If no content has been changed, clicking the Editing button will exit Edit Mode (maybe there should be a pop up message stating that you are leaving/will be leaving edit mode?)

If content has been changed, clicking the Editing button will open up a window/drop down menu like it did in 5.4.

This way, you still get the cool hover-ness of 5.5, but the option to avoid hovering and do it the not-so-old-school 5.4 way.

That's my 2 cents atleast. I wish I had the time to really learn C5's core enough to hax out these things myself!