[MlMt] Modal two pane layout?

[Baron Fujimoto]

Hello,

I'm evaluating MailMate as replacement for the venerable Alpine and Mutt
MUAs I've been using.  I apologize for what will probably be a slate of
basic or clueless questions as I try to map the workflows I'm familiar with
from those MUAs to MailMate.

One preference that has become ingrained is their modality of these older
MUAs.  I like being able to navigate a mailbox message in a primary screen
or pane, then selecting a message and having its contents displayed in place
of the index.  Most GUI mail apps seem to use the three pane model for
mailboxes/folders, index, and message.  The closest I've come with MailMate
to approximating the modal style is to "Hide Message View".  I can sort of
further kludge it by sizing and positioning a selected message's window over
the index, but that's far from optimal.  For example, the index navigation
keys don't seem to be active while the message display window has the focus.

Is there a way to configure what I'm after here?  Alternately, would this
be a feature request candidate?  Or is this just too different from the way
MailMate works as to be infeasible and I just need to adapt to the new way
things work?

Aloha,
-baron