Most micro-managment is handled by the computer, there are templates and automation for a lot of things you don't want to bother with. You deal with the grand strategy and your loving people deal with the slimy aliens. Unless you play the aliens, in which case your slimy aliens deal with the loving people. If you select a fleet you'll get Fleet Information, Fleet Waypoints, Waypoint Task, Fleet Composition and so on. Select a planet and the panels change to reflect planetary data.
All panels are either resizeable, collapsible or both.
This is a good thing because the amount of data available can seem a bit overwhelming at times. There are three main window layouts, Large, Medium or Small, suitable for 1024x768 and above, 800x600 and 640x480 respectivly. Playing the game at 640x480 is not very pleasant, as you see but a small area of the galaxy and not being able to get a good view of the empire is a serious problem for even a modest a galactic conqueror. Finally there are popup windows for specific tasks such as Ship design, Research and Production. The interface works well.