Well, actually there IS some way to handle Documents in the gnome-panel:
I have chosen the Russian locale, and the bookmarked Documents folder is automatically created with a translated name: "Документы", and it is called "Документы" in gtk bookmarks and the panel.
But if I create a folder named exactly "Documents" (in English), it is showed in Places menu right under "Home folder" item, and it has a localized shortcut as well: "Документы"...
So, I guess the panel still handles Documents, ignoring the xdg-user-dirs mechanism.
Well, actually there IS some way to handle Documents in the gnome-panel:
I have chosen the Russian locale, and the bookmarked Documents folder is automatically created with a translated name: "Документы", and it is called "Документы" in gtk bookmarks and the panel.
But if I create a folder named exactly "Documents" (in English), it is showed in Places menu right under "Home folder" item, and it has a localized shortcut as well: "Документы"...
So, I guess the panel still handles Documents, ignoring the xdg-user-dirs mechanism.