Herdr Pane Balancer

Automatically balance panes in Herdr as panes are created, closed, or exited.

Installation

Important

This plugin requires Python 3.6 or newer.

Install directly from GitHub:

herdr plugin install jeph/herdr-pane-balancer

Confirm that the plugin is installed and enabled:

herdr plugin list

If it is disabled, enable it explicitly:

herdr plugin enable herdr-pane-balancer

Behavior at a glance

Adding a third pane

Starting with two equal panes:

+----------------+----------------+
|                |                |
|                |                |
|       A        |       B        |
|                |                |
|                |                |
|                |                |
+----------------+----------------+

Split pane B to the right:

Without the plugin                       With Herdr Pane Balancer
+----------------+-------+--------+      +----------+----------+----------+
|                |       |        |      |          |          |          |
|                |       |        |      |          |          |          |
|       A        |   B   |  New   |      |    A     |    B     |   New    |
|                |       |        |      |          |          |          |
|                |       |        |      |          |          |          |
|                |       |        |      |          |          |          |
+----------------+-------+--------+      +----------+----------+----------+

Herdr normally halves only the pane being split, leaving A twice as wide as B and New. The plugin automatically rebalances the three columns to equal widths.

Going from three panes to four

Starting with 3 panes:

+----------------+----------------+
|                |                |
|                |       B        |
|                |                |
|       A        +----------------+
|                |                |
|                |       C        |
|                |                |
+----------------+----------------+

Split pane C to the right:

Without the plugin                       With Herdr Pane Balancer
+----------------+----------------+      +----------------+----------------+
|                |                |      |                |                |
|                |       B        |      |       A        |       B        |
|                |                |      |                |                |
|       A        +-------+--------+      +----------------+----------------+
|                |       |        |      |                |                |
|                |   C   |  New   |      |       C        |      New       |
|                |       |        |      |                |                |
+----------------+-------+--------+      +----------------+----------------+

Instead of leaving the new pane nested inside the bottom-right region, the plugin rebuilds the tab as an even 2-by-2 grid.

Going from four panes to five

Starting with an even 2-by-2 grid:

+----------------+----------------+
|                |                |
|       A        |       B        |
|                |                |
+----------------+----------------+
|                |                |
|       C        |       D        |
|                |                |
+----------------+----------------+

Split pane D to the right:

Without the plugin                       With Herdr Pane Balancer
+----------------+----------------+      +----------+----------+-----------+
|                |                |      |          |          |           |
|       A        |       B        |      |    A     |    B     |     C     |
|                |                |      |          |          |           |
+----------------+----------------+      +----------+----------+-----------+
|                |       |        |      |                |                |
|       C        |   D   |  New   |      |       D        |      New       |
|                |       |        |      |                |                |
+----------------+-------+--------+      +----------------+----------------+

For five panes, the plugin builds a balanced three-pane top row and two-pane bottom row.

When a pane closes, surviving panes keep their left-to-right, top-to-bottom order. The plugin rebuilds the grid only if the collapsed layout cannot represent the balanced target shape. In the five-pane example above, closing C leaves A B / D New, closing A leaves B C / D New, and closing D produces A B / C New, moving only C into the second row.

Going from five panes to six

Starting with three panes above two panes:

+----------+----------+-----------+
|          |          |           |
|    A     |    B     |     C     |
|          |          |           |
+----------+----------+-----------+
|                |                |
|       D        |       E        |
|                |                |
+----------------+----------------+

Split pane E to the right:

Without the plugin                       With Herdr Pane Balancer
+----------+----------+-----------+      +----------+----------+-----------+
|          |          |           |      |          |          |           |
|    A     |    B     |     C     |      |    A     |    B     |     C     |
|          |          |           |      |          |          |           |
+----------+----------+-----------+      +----------+----------+-----------+
|                |       |        |      |          |          |           |
|       D        |   E   |  New   |      |    D     |    E     |    New    |
|                |       |        |      |          |          |           |
+----------------+-------+--------+      +----------+----------+-----------+

The sixth pane completes the second three-pane row, so only its row ratios need changing.