Pengoros has a really nice buff / debuff plugin called Buffbars which I use for everything except displaying buffs and debuffs. I know that sounds stupid but I use it for it's quickbar and effect slider. You can check it out
here. I'll post a comment for that plugin to see if Pengoros will add the option to display buffs / debuffs horizontally with only a text timer and no graphical timer.
My little vitals bar plugin won't be ready for any type of "public" use until I add in some sizing capabilities. Currently, I have no idea what it will do if I change resolution or change the overall UI scale. I am just learning LUA and the LOTRO API so progress on this will be slow (if anyone cares).
That's a bummer I can't snag the default context menu if the default vitals window is hidden. I will noodle on that a while and see if I can't find a creative solution to that. Although since I am not actually creating a new plugin but just moding the Turbine Vitals example plugin the menu problem may already be solved. I will have do some more digging.