What is a Pane in a Window?
A pane in a window is a rectangular section of the window that contains some graphical user interface elements. If you ever see a scrollbar attached to something, it's probably attached to a window pane. This is a rather old term1 that made more sense when the "windows" in the computer actually looked like windows, with frames and borders. Just like a window real life has window panes, a window in a computer program has window panes as well. Nowadays, you only see this term used to refer to side panes, which are thick sidebars.
Types of Panes
For reference, I'll categorize the pane terminology from the cited sources.
A pane is a collective term for scroll panes, split panes, and tabbed panes.
http://ptitben2000.chez.com/info/lookandfeel/higk.htm (accessed 2024-07-29)
The source above contains the passage "Copyright 1999 Sun Microsystems, Inc." in its footer, so I assume it was published in 1999. It's documentation for programmers. A lot could have changed, or be forgotten, since then.
It's worth noting that the terminology programmers use to refer to these things is rather confusing. In Windows (the operating system), everything that is displayed on the screen can be considered a window, since they're created with the CreateWindow function in the Win32 API, so even a button is a window. In some GUI toolkits, the term for a window is a "frame," not a "window." In fact, now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever seen "pane" used for anything. Maybe it's only used in Java?
Scroll Pane
A scroll pane is a pane that features a scrollbar.
A scroll pane is a specialized container offering vertical and horizontal scrollbars that enable users to change the visible portion of the window contents.
http://ptitben2000.chez.com/info/lookandfeel/higk.htm (accessed 2024-07-29)
In Qt, there is QAbstractScrollArea for this. In GTK, this is called a GtkScrolledWindow. I assume almost every other toolkit just calls it "scrollbar." I never really considered you could call the area where a scrollbar is attached a "pane." I'd have just called it an "area." It makes sense areas in a "window" are "panes," however.
The example used seems to be a simple text area. When programming interfaces, text areas usually those have scrollbars built into them, so normally you wouldn't even need a scroll-something for this.
Tabbed Pane and Content Pane
A tabbed pane is a pane that features tabs.
A tabbed pane is a container that enables users to switch between several content panes (usually JPanel components) that appear to share the same space on screen.
http://ptitben2000.chez.com/info/lookandfeel/higk.htm (accessed 2024-07-29)
In Qt, there is QTabWidget. In Gtk, this is called a GtkNotebook.
I'll be honest, "tabbed panes" look nothing like panes. They could look like panes, but they don't. For example, in a web browser, the "content panes" look like panes, so I guess you could say the tabbed pane is kind of a pane, but the typical "tabbed pane" just doesn't look like a pane. I don't know if its appearance changed one day, but it just doesn't look like a pane.
Split Pane
A split pane is a pane with two panes inside of it, and a horizontal or vertical divider in the middle that can be clicked and dragged to resize the panes.
A split pane is a container that divides a pane into resizable panes. Split panes enable users to adjust the relative sizes of two adjacent panes. The Java look and feel drag texture (along with a pointer change) indicates that users can resize split panes.
http://ptitben2000.chez.com/info/lookandfeel/higk.htm (accessed 2024-07-29)
In Qt, there is QSplitter. In Gtk, there is GtkPaned.
Hmm? So the "pane" terminology is used somewhere else after all!
Split panes are probably the most pane-looking panes of this list.
Desktop Pane
A desktop pane is a pane where internal sub-windows are displayed inside a window. Another term for this is a Multiple Document Interface (MDI).
A desktop pane is a component placed inside a window that holds internal frames for an MDI application.
http://ptitben2000.chez.com/info/lookandfeel/higk.htm (accessed 2024-07-29)
IN Qt, this is called a QMdiArea.
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