Unopened chat windows are iconified (can you confirm by looking at the window with xprop?) so the window manager shouldn't show them.
This is what I got:
$ xprop -id 0x280009d
_NET_WM_STATE(ATOM) = _NET_WM_STATE_HIDDEN
WM_STATE(WM_STATE):
window state: Iconic
icon window: 0x0
_NET_WM_DESKTOP(CARDINAL) = 0
...
Which probably indicates what you're saying. So it seems to be a Gnome Shell's bug?
It seems like a Gnome bug but the next step is to log a bug with them and see what they say.
@gdrewb-valve: It's your turn now, see their reply. :)
When I alt+tab on Unity I don't see any extra steam windows from chat.
I wouldn't be surprised if steam wasn't setting the initial window size since it's just a chat-ready indicator and might not be set up until you actually activate it.
I've been thinking about this a bit and I'm not sure how it is supposed to work.
If the chat window is expected to be completely hidden until viewed, how am I supposed to open it (since it is hidden)? Or is it present in alt+tab options or ...?
You get a toast notification of incoming chat and clicking on that will show the window. Long-term notification is dependent on Unity currently as we flash the app icon when an unread chat message has come in and clicking on the app icon will show the window. This behavior is all derived directly from Windows and isn't perfect on Linux but it's what we have at the moment.
This too happens in Fluxbox, but when un-iconifying the next window, it will still be the same size as shown in the first picture.
If I resize manually (with Fluxbox hotkeys or wmctrl) the Window will look correct, but the mouse will be offset inside the window. This means that whenever I get an update or someone messages me, I cannot use the window.
Any information you need @gdrewb-valve ?
Not at the moment, thanks.
I have the same issue in Enlightenment 17. output from xprop. http://pastebin.com/vpRXjMgR
@gdrewb-valve Anything I can do to help resolve this besides from disabling Chat in steam? Even thought it occurs when updates come (luckily the OK button has focus, so pressing enter while update has focus, updates Steam and restarts it).
ALT+F4 will kill Steam and not only the Chat window, which is even more annoying.
It never releases the iconified state for me, and I have to start a game, open the overlay then close the window to avoid steam closing.
It has been 5 months, and I still can't have people message me on steam without stuff is breaking. It feels like Valve is neglecting a lot of issues in order to push more games through.
My experience is that Steam is still in early beta.
I know this is an old bug, but it's annoying as hell. Why isn't the window size set properly when the window is created? Can we at least have a option to show new chat windows normally, not iconified? Thanks.
Seems like nobody wants to fix this, just look at the dates in this issue and here: https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=693567#c0
So the assumption was that an iconified window can't be seen.
This assumption might come from the ICCCM: https://tronche.com/gui/x/icccm/sec-4.html#s-4.1.4
IconicState - The client's top-level window is iconic (whatever that means for this window manager). The client can assume that its top-level window is not viewable, ...
But several desktop environments break that assumption, including GNOME Shell with its Activities overview or the AlternateTab extension, KDE, and Unity, among others?
Surely there is no reason not to just correctly size the window when it's created?
Still not fixed
Still a major problem. This issue has been open for four years. Any updates?
Nothing extracted yet.
After receiving chat message, when I go to Shell's overlay (instead of directly opening the message), it's too small. After the window is opened, the size is then correct.
![Screenshot from 2013-02-10 01:16:45]()
Should be clear from screenshot: