[ova]

You wrote

We had already some proposal for feature spec:
http://anonsvn.jboss.org/repos/richfaces/management/design/Split%20Panel%20component/
It uses the first approach from the list above. The feature used to be proposed to be implemented in RichFaces 3.3.0, but was not approved

Why wasn't this feature approved? Many developers need that. They are looking for some alternatives for frames. Scriptless CSS layout doesn't make a lot sense without resizing capability. Many business web applications want to have desktop layouts that are adjustable (fittable) to the page size automatically, extensible, collapsable, slidable. There are already some great realizations
jQuery based Layout Manager http://layout.jquery-dev.net
DHTML Layout http://dhtmlx.com/docs/products/dhtmlxLayout/index.shtml.

Why you don't implement something like as JSF tag / component?

Best regards.
Oleg.

[ilya_shaikovsky]

This feature was not approved for implementation in 3.3.1-3.3.2. According to votes stabilization work is preferable for branch. So we shifter complex approaches to 4.0.x version.

[jbalunas]

As Ilya said this was a micro release, and we needed to keep complexity down. This type of layout is in the works for 4.0, but will also be discussed in relation to the other big ticket items.

-Jay