The last 3 options in the View menu can change where the toolbars appear (Default, Custom, Wide).

The current stable version of Inkscape is 0.91. But at least I would suggest getting the stable version of 0.48, rather than the "preview" version.

Actually, I'm not sure if the toolbars are controlled in the same way as I described, in 0.48 pre. But I think they are.

Hello, I am also having this issue. I just installed .91. The three options of custom, default, and wide don't let me actually put the toolbars where I want them. This is especially annoying for the "custom" option, which I would have thought would actually allow me to customize the positions. What is even more annoying about the custom position is that it has the snap controls and tool controls toolbars on top of one another, when there is clearly enough room for them to be next to each other, which would take up less space. Is there any way to actually click and drag toolbars to where I want them, or are the three options that the inkscape developers give me the only ones I have?

Currently those are the only available options (beside hiding toolbars), unfortunately.

I would also very much like to hide unused icons to get more space, and maybe re-organize the tool bars' locations. There is a file that allows to do that in the /ui directory of the shared Inkscape files, but - as far as I was able to determine - that file is only read when Inkscape is compiled.
So it might just work if you change the file and then compile your own Inkscape version.

Also see https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour ... bug/788256 and linked bug.

In some older versions, you could drag a couple of toolbars away from where they normally are, and you could leave them to "float" wherever you wanted -- or even move them around as you worked -- just like you can have dialogs floating now. That was so long ago, it was before there was a snap toolbar at all! I have no idea why that was dropped, but I suspect it would be very popular.