one strange thing in the permut8 gui is that in INSTRUCTION 1 the INTEGER and RATE labels are not properly centered.
is this a mistake or is intended to be like that?

It is actually intentional. I suppose it is a matter of taste, but I choose to center the labels for their specific group of switches. This makes the rate and integer labels not line up with "high bits" as they are only represented by 7 instead of 8 switches.

If you cover up the top row, or load the linsub firmware, you see what I mean. =)

all clear now.
i probably would figured it out myself but i haven't spent too much time with the manual. i was just flipping switches waiting for a happy accident to happen.
10x