A layout combinator that support Shrink, Expand, and IncMasterN just as the Tall layout, and also support operations of two master windows: a main master, which is the original master window; a sub master, the first window of the second pane. This combinator can be nested, and has a good support for using XMonad.Layout.Tabbed as a sublayout.

You can use this module with the following in your xmonad.hs:

import XMonad.Layout.TallMastersCombo

and make sure the Choose layout operator (|||) is hidden by adding the followings:

import XMonad hiding ((|||))
import XMonad.Layout hiding ((|||))

then, add something like

tmsCombineTwoDefault (Tall 0 (3/100) 0) simpleTabbed

This will make the Tall layout as the master pane, and simpleTabbed layout as the second pane. You can shrink, expand, and increase more windows to the master pane just like using the Tall layout.

To swap and/or focus the sub master window (the first window in the second pane), you can add the following key bindings

     , ((modm .|. shiftMask, m),         sendMessage $ FocusSubMaster)
     , ((modm .|. shiftMask, xK_Return), sendMessage $ SwapSubMaster)

In each pane, you can use multiple layouts with the (|||) combinator provided by this module, and switch between them with the FocusedNextLayout message. Below is one example

layout1 = Simplest ||| Tabbed
layout2 = Full ||| Tabbed ||| (RowsOrColumns True)
myLayout = tmsCombineTwoDefault layout1 layout2

then add the following key binding,

     , ((modm, w), sendMessage $ FocusedNextLayout)

Now, pressing this key will toggle the multiple layouts in the currently focused pane.

You can mirror this layout with the default Mirror key binding. But to have a more natural behaviors, you can use the SwitchOrientation message:

     , ((modm, xK_space), sendMessage $ SwitchOrientation)

This will not mirror the tabbed decoration, and will keep sub-layouts that made by TallMastersCombo and RowsOrColumns display in natural orientations.

To merge layouts more flexibly, you can use tmsCombineTwo instead.

tmsCombineTwo False 1 (3/100) (1/3) Simplest simpleTabbed

This creates a vertical merged layout with 1 window in the master pane, and the master pane shrinks and expands with a step of (3/100), and occupies (1/3) of the screen.

Each sub-layout have a focused window. To rotate between the focused windows across all the sub-layouts, using the following messages:

     , ((modm .|. mod1, j), sendMessage $ NextFocus)
     , ((modm .|. mod1, k), sendMessage $ PrevFocus)

this let you jump to the focused window in the next/previous sub-layout.

Finally, this combinator can be nested. Here is one example,

subLayout  = tmsCombineTwo False 1 (3/100) (1/2) Simplest simpleTabbed
layout1    = simpleTabbed ||| subLayout
layout2    = subLayout ||| simpleTabbed ||| (RowsOrColumns True)
baseLayout = tmsCombineTwoDefault layout1 layout2

mylayouts = smartBorders $
            avoidStruts $
            mkToggle (FULL ?? EOT) $
            baseLayout

this is a realization of the cool idea from

https://www.reddit.com/r/xmonad/comments/3vkrc3/does_this_layout_exist_if_not_can_anyone_suggest/

and is more flexible.