1. Sorry, but I cannot duplicate your findings wrt the 2.5 second anomaly - If I ask for 2.5 seconds - I get 2.5 seconds.
2. wrt applying styles to multiple slides - note in the Styles Dialogue that this style (NAME - which was, I believe, made specifically for someone) was made for one slide at 7 seconds. If you apply that to 4 slides then the total time is calculated for 4 slides i.e. 22 seconds FSD. If you want four 2.5 second slides then you need to calculate the TOTAL FSD for the 4 slides and not input the time for a single slide.
3. At this time, with Igor going full steam ahead on the MAC version, I see little point in making suggestions of this kind. The correct time for this (IMHO) would be in the build up to Version 11 for PC (and MAC). Igor has already promised a re-vamp of Styles and suggestions made now could easily be forgotten.
I was merely making the point that the FSD side of things is already covered, but takes a little thought before implementing.
DG