Why isn't there in the VM backend an option to disable the rendering of some fields of the invoice?
For example, for the fields Product Status, Reference, and Discount it could be nice to have a place to disable them without having to modify code, and thus making it clean and fast.
Maybe someone knows of a plugin that will enable "drag and drop" invoice design and will post here.
I think that trying to make the core infinitely flexible in the design of layouts/templates etc for non technical users would be extremely time consuming.
As many of these changes are determined at the design phase of the store (where a technical support person is very likely to be engaged) the ability to override displays, such as invoices, is clearly seen as sufficient for the vast majority of deployments. It is both clean and fast.
I would not want the VM developers to delay new features for such "one off" capabilities.
Plugin which allows customisation of invoices: http://extensions.virtuemart.net/product/products/advanced-virtuemart-invoices-detail
I think the Artio invoice editor/generator is still available, too.