Paul,
First the fixer question: Alkaline fixers, as mentioned, wash out more quickly. This is of primary importance with fiber-base papers. That said, there are a lot of slightly-acid and neutral fixers out there that work just fine. The real thing you should be aware of is the difference between sodium thiosulfate (hypo) fixers and ammonium thiosulfate (rapid) fixers. The former take much longer to fix and may not fix some modern films (e.g., TMax) completely. Rapid fixers are significantly faster and are recommended by the manufacturers for both TMax and Delta films. I think most of us now use a rapid fixer in some incarnation or other. My fixer(s) of choice is Ilford Rapid Fixer (or Hypam). It (they) are very slightly acid at working dilutions and come in convenient liquid concentrates. TF-5 would be another recommendation. It is neutral pH.
As for your suggested work flow related to your question, "is there a better way, based on my priorities (simplicity, cost, and cleanliness)?" I would question a couple of things.
First, if you plan on processing only occasionally, I'd try to keep things simple and use everything you can from liquid concentrates that have a long shelf life. Why divided D-76? You have to mix it from powder, which means you have a stock solution with a shorter lifespan. Plus you have two developing steps, which is really unnecessary for 99% of cases. A developer like HC-110 or Ilford IlfotecHC comes in a concentrate that will last for years. If you mix just what you need for a single session directly from the concentrate, the concentrate will last years. There are other developers like this too, e.g. Rodinal or, my standard, PMK, but the two mentioned above will give results very, very like D-76.
The same with stop and fix. I use an Ilford citric-acid stop bath and mix up just what I need for a single session from the concentrate. It lasts for years. Ilford Rapid Fixer (or any rapid fixer that comes in a liquid concentrate, for that matter) can also be diluted right before use to make the volume you need for a single session. Fixer concentrate in a partially-filled container has a shelf-life of 6 months to a year. So, why mix working solutions and have them sitting around in bottles taking up space and getting too old to use?
And, although I won't tell you what to do, I will give you some recommendations based on my 30+ years of darkroom experience and reading and research
Do use a stop bath. It stops development quickly and reliably, prepares the neg for the fix and is simply more reliable and simpler than a water bath.
Go for a rapid fixer (i.e., ammonium thiosulfate based). The Art Fix fixer you mention is a sodium thiosulfate (conventional/slow) fixer, and seems to be rather finicky and fragile (a stop bath will ruin it...) Note that alkaline TF-4 and neutral TF-5, both formulated by Kodak engineer Ron Mowrey - PE here on the forum, are designed to work with a conventional acid stop bath and are rapid fixers. I'd recommend either of those along with the Ilford products I mentioned before Art Fix.
And ditch the fancy-schmancy divided developer if you're just starting out. Use a liquid concentrate that lasts a long time if you only develop occasionally.
Best,
Doremus
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