Great idea Angie! Setting permissions from the large confusing table can be a headache. Probably the only reason I use the admin theme functionality too - as it almost never fits!

My 2c regarding the table, is to repeat the role-names next to each permission table (if one has more than 3 roles, there's always a scrolling up and down to check which column is which role)

ie. <tr><td>menu module</td><td>anonymous</td><td>authenticated</td><td>author</td><td>editor</td></tr>