Well, that's just an issue of what you consider "the front" of the combinator... I could really use some graphics to make that obvious, but you are the first to complain about this, so I'd say it's not that big of an issue.
its no complain..
just most wire-connections of all electronic devices are on the back ;) - it would be more "intuitive"
other mods also use the "wire side" as back.
it makes it more clear "how to use" .. and my first impression was: its not working :)
the recipe detector is indeed not working - pls see other tread