How to have Project and Favorites panels extend to the bottom while bottom panels are open?

Hi there,

So you want something like this?

Enable "Settings/Preferences | Appearance & Behavior | Appearance | Widescreen tool window layout" option

Thanks, that appears to have done mostly what I want; the tabs for the windows at the bottom stay to the left though rather than align with the windows on the right, which I find counter-intuitive.

However, I tried enabling "Side-by-side layout" on the left and/or right and it doesn't appear to do anything (by clicking OK or Apply). Are those related to what I'm looking for, or what am I missing?

>Are those related to what I'm looking for, or what am I missing?

No

>However, I tried enabling "Side-by-side layout" on the left and/or right and it doesn't appear to do anything (by clicking OK or Apply).

It works. You need 2 side panels for that: instead of displaying one on the top left and one on the bottom left they will use whole height but will be next of each other.

For example: Structure and Favorites toolwindows (on the right)

vs

>the tabs for the windows at the bottom stay to the left though rather than align with the windows on the right, which I find counter-intuitive.

Sorry, I could not understand what you mean here. Try illustrating it with a screenshot.

It shows in your screenshots; the tabs like "TODO" or "Problems" show on the bottom left under the Project/Favorites but when you open them, their panels show to the right of those panels. It would be nice if they were aligned with their own panels. Am I right to assume that they don't do that?

Yes, they do not "jump" into the middle to align with the toolwindow actual left/right side.

From what I remember (seen that quite long time ago in one of the related tickets):

• it is done on purpose to have the same location/experience (so they always close to the window edge regardless of how big your screen is -- some people use big monitor at work/home .. and small laptop on the go)
• cover situations when you have a lot of toolwindows and you need to fit all their "headers" there (I have 4: 2 on each side; lots of userr will easily have 6-7 of them (standard services that I do not use here in a test project + more plugins).. and during coding/refactoring it can be 10+)

As far as I know devs are working on a new layout system (easier to move toolwindows, especially grouping them, e.g. IDEA-81909 / IDEA-55195 and related tickets) so it may change in the future.

OK thanks for clarifying.

However, I see the same view on desktop big screen and laptop, so I'm not sure I understand how the experience could be different to a detrimental degree between them if the bottom panel tabs aligned with their panels on their left side while open. If I can see the left side of the open bottom panel, and the bottom of PHPStorm, then it would be easier to see the tabs for them there too just below the panel and flush to its left side. Even when I have multiple bottom panels open, this idea would make sense on my desktop monitor and laptop screen. Maybe JetBrains has a different perception.

I typically use, on the left side, Project and Favorites (sometimes Structure), and it makes sense to have the Project tab at the top right and the Favorites and Structure tabs on the bottom right of their respective panels. The bottom tabs being flush left to the left panels instead of to the left of their bottom panels is counter-intuitive compared to the left panel tabs placement, but all I can do is vote for an issue. I really hope a layout redesign will not be false simplicity.