Patch gives an option to disable the struts with a "No Struts" option in the Settings; you might want to call it something more user-friendly :-). Consider a vertical panel on the right; this allows you to actually place applications in the space above and below the panel which you otherwise can't use unless you have autohide-enabled.
Created attachment 140 Patch
Yes, thank you. I am considering to add this option. This will not go in for 4.2.0, though.
The panel uses partial struts now, which means the open spaces are available for windows to be placed.