Smaller chainring on the right side of a bigger one possible?
I've done the chain-setting by hand for a couple days when I was waiting for a replacement front mech to arrive.  It worked, but without a FD cage the chain could bounce around and fall off at bumps, like coasting through gravel.

Also, setting the chain while riding was awful-risky because you're bent right down to reach your chain. It gets old fast, and every time risks catching a finger or missing something going on in the traffic.  Plus you get dirty fingers/gloves.

You already have the solution of a front derailleur.  The only perceived advantage is getting a straighter chainline in the big ring.   So the fix there is to use a triple crankset, and set your big ring in the middle position, leave the outside position empty, and put a middle ring on the innermost position.

The only question here will be finding a FD that moves suitably - you may need to mount it higher up the seat tube than normal, and possibly require a friction shifter not an indexed shifter to get the chain sitting right.



I have a shimano alfine 11 with a 22/34/44 triple, and I have never needed the granny ring even when going up a 15% gradient.  The granny 22 tooth simply didn't give me the 4~5  km/h minimum speed I needed to keep balanced, so it was necessary to apply power in 34:gear1 or 25 gear inches, rather than down in the sub-20 gear inches ranges.