How to turn off Messages pane

[stmisc]

I find the messages pane automatically opening to be, well, a pain. How do you shut it off so that it doesn't open whenever I switch between the Text and XML panes. Also, the pane seems to open in a full window, hiding my actual working content. I've tried the different icons (drop down arrow, pin, x) to no avail. It doesn't want to open minimized. So each time I have to click x in the pane to close it. Over and over and over. This is really annoying behavior that I would like to know how to fix. Thanks.

[ChoccieMuffin]

I don't get that behaviour at all (mine appears at the bottom of my work area), so perhaps you could save the screen layout where it is as you want it to be. Just a thought, it might not work, but it's certainly worth a try.

[kmacdowe]

My message pane is at the bottom but it takes the focus off the pane I am working in whenever there is a message.
Is there a way to stop it from changing the focus or hiding the messages?

[tekwrite]

I found that if I float the current topic it stays on top of the Messages tab which is docked.

[doloremipsum]

To elaborate on what others have said, the easiest way I've found is this: position the messages pane at the bottom of the window and make it as small as you like, so it doesn't cover anything important. Click the pin button to dock it there. When the message pane opens, it will cover your other panes without changing their sizes. Then you can click anywhere else to collapse your message pane without needing to locate the close button.

I'd love to say "just stop generating errors to get rid of the message pane" but of course the reason I have this problem is that Flare doesn't recognise the flexbox style even though it works perfectly well in the output.