"Along the same line, unlike many published chord charts, I play G major with the ring finger on 6th/3rd, skip (damp) the 5th, and pinky on the 1st/3rd for the high G. I find that makes a quick clean transition to C and back, and leaves the index and middle fingers available to play melody notes on the 1st and 2nd frets."

That's how I learned to play it, and I've never understood why people would want to finger it with the first finger on the 5th string, middle on the 6th and ring finger on the 1st. OK, it does take some practice to strengthen and get control over the pinky, but a beginner is struggling to control all the fingers at first, so that makes no difference, and it improves your playing in the long run. The alternative way of playing it seems no less contorted (to get the ring finger onto the 1st string), and requires a major movement of the hand out of position, which must hamper the change to other chords, especially C.