Minnow to minnow, I'll try to help you out here ...
First, the best way to get attention for "help" posts is to tag your post "minnowsupport" that way people who are able to help will see it in the "new" feed there.
Yes, when you do most things on Steemit it appears in the center third of your screen, and when you read a post it does pop-out. I'm not sure if this is to make it easier for mobile users or just an aesthetics preference of the devs.
Unfortunately there is not a way to just make a list of followers that do not appear in your "home" feed. You can however see only your posts (and resteems) under the "Blog" tab when you click your picture, and at the top of that same window if you click on "followers" at the top you can see a list of followers (same with following) without their inline content.
Yes, this is the way many blogs are set up. I find that if the typing area is too small it's best to learn the blog markup and write your post in your favorite text editor, then copy-paste it here. I recommend following for newbie tips and tricks, he has been incredibly helpful to me.
RE: Some first use / new user questions if anyone wants to help.