maybe this is stupid question.. but i'm trying to get my emacs customization fine grained.. is there a direct command to change windows like this?
+----------------+
| |
| |
+----------------+
| |
| |
+----------------+
to
+----------------+------------+
| | |
| | |
+----------------+ |
| | |
| | |
+----------------+------------+
or am i going to need to start learning elisp?
yes you will, but toying with window layout and buffers is very good place to start. here's a solution for you, it gives you most of what you need to customise your layouts.
add the code below to your .emacs. C-x C-e to evaluate it, then hopefully hitting F5 will do as you expect (provided you haven't killed the '*Messages*' buffer).
global-set-key '[f5] '(lambda () (interactive)
(let ((other (buffer-name (window-buffer (next-window)))))
(delete-other-windows)
(set-frame-width (selected-frame)
(+ (frame-width (selected-frame)) (window-width)))
(split-window-horizontally)
(split-window-vertically)
(with-selected-window (next-window)
(set-window-buffer (selected-window) other))
(with-selected-window (previous-window)
(set-window-buffer (selected-window) "*Messages*")))))