Mate 18.3: Fixed size windows do not rescale or adapt to insufficient screen area

[jharris1993]

Greetings!

Ref:
A previous posting on this topic located at:
viewtopic.php?f=90&t=270376&p=1475894&h ... g#p1475885

Please read the topic referenced above. I have the exact same issue - and I've tried the workarounds mentioned there - all to no avail. Since that topic is something like six months old I hesitate to add my commentary to it.

Issue:
Windows with, (what appear to be), hard-coded sizes do not re-scale themselves to fit, (or generate scroll-bars to adapt), if the actual screen area available is too short or narrow. This makes the window unusable since the active controls to select what the window offers are off the bottom/side of the screen and cannot be moved into view.

The Update Manager window is a perfect example of this problem.

I have just installed Mate 18.3 (32 bit) on an "XP vintage" Acer laptop/netbook with a screen resolution of something like 1024x600 and the Update Manager's active controls are hidden off the bottom edge of the screen.

The "Alt-Grab" solution offered in the previous posting, (alt + left-click), doesn't work for me. If I do this near the top of the window, it grabs there and I cannot move the window higher. If I move the mouse further down toward the center of the window before attempting the "alt-grab", the top of the window jumps down to the position of the mouse's pointer before allowing me to grab it. No matter what I do, I can neither resize the window, nor move it high enough to give access to the buttons at the bottom.

Because of this, I cannot finish up the installation on this machine because I cannot set the "update policy" when attempting to use the Update Manager for the first time.

I know I can open a terminal window and do an "apt-get update" and "apt-get upgrade" as root, but I should not have to do this. As this machine is intended for an inexperienced user this solution is unacceptable, as it should be for any user.

Suggestion:
Can the window manager force any non-resizable window to allow resizing or force it to re-scale itself to fit?

Note that "extending behind the bottom panel / task bar" should be treated as if it is off the screen and should cause a resize/re-scale to fit.

What say ye?

[redlined]

The "Alt-Grab" solution offered in the previous posting, (alt + left-click), doesn't work for me. If I do this near the top of the window, it grabs there and I cannot move the window higher. If I move the mouse further down toward the center of the window before attempting the "alt-grab", the top of the window jumps down to the position of the mouse's pointer before allowing me to grab it. No matter what I do, I can neither resize the window, nor move it high enough to give access to the buttons at the bottom.

I am new to linux and have no solution for the issue, but did want to clarify somethings from the above quoted piece. Are you pressing the alt key before mouse left click? if not sure try it again, move mouse to where you'd like to grab (middle of window) then press alt and hold it down, then click left mouse button it should immediately create a grabbing hand in place of mouse arrow pointer. Move to desired location and release click and alt.

If this is what you are indeed doing then I'd say something is broke and others may help get it sorted, regardless I do not intend to waste your time nor insult intelligence with my clarify inquiry above and wish you luck!

[jharris1993]

If this is what you are indeed doing then I'd say something is broke and others may help get it sorted, regardless I do not intend to waste your time nor insult intelligence with my clarify inquiry above and wish you luck!

Redlined,
Do not be afraid to ask a question or offer your opinions or advice - it may be a jewel of wisdom that others may not have thought about. Anyone who would criticise you for offering honest opinions or advice is a fool and an ill-mannered idiot. You will find remarkably few of them here.

Regarding your question, yes I do press the key before left-clicking the mouse. However that's a good question. These subtleties of technique are not always obvious and even the most experienced people make mistakes like this.

Thank you for your insightful question and advice. Hopefully we will see you again soon!

[redlined]

hi jharris1993!

Thanks for responding. Although it does sound self-deprecating I do want folks to understand upfront that I am a newb and my thoughts (considering advice to be given by experienced in the arts, so I share thoughts and musings and even suggested commands may not help, as intended. Caveat Lector/reader beware sort of do your own due diligence I've done mine deal. But I'm learning tons, and participating in community, and these things matter greatly to me, slowly growing that experience that simply comes with time.

Still so strange to me is that Alt+click in document middle has top jump down to meet mouse, blows my mind as to what could cause such a thing to happen lol..
Could it be a sticky key or some such? e.g. Right Ctrl key is a sticker, then when pressing Alt you have a key combo to jump window titlebar to mouse location, is what I'm dreaming up lol, what else might make a window jump to mouse like that?

ps. Thanks again, and well met!

[jharris1993]

Could it be a sticky key or some such? e.g. Right Ctrl key is a sticker, then when pressing Alt you have a key combo to jump window titlebar to mouse location, is what I'm dreaming up lol, what else might make a window jump to mouse like that?

I don't think it's as simple as that. If I had a sticky key, it wouldn't only show up when I tried to move a window. Nice idea though.

[smurphos]

Just a quick question are you actually talking about Software manager, rather than Update Manager? Update Managers controls are all at the top of the window.

Sorry just re-read your post properly - it's the policy setting window you are talking about - which doesn't exist in 19.x.

Software Manager is normally with window people have most issues with. For info Software Manager has been tweaked in forthcoming Mint 19.1 to hide some elements on a smaller resolution screen so the minimum window size can be smaller so you might want to consider installing 19,1. It's release announcement should be in the coming days. The beta iso is available now if you wanted to give it a quick try. You'll need to install all available updates to see the slimmed down Software Manager on a low resolution screen.

As a another note - I can't get the Alt to grab keyboard shortcut to work properly in Mate 19 on a virtualbox install either. It works perfectly in Cinnamon. Possibly a Mate desktop bug? Another shortcut to instigate a move in Mate (with the Window Manager set to the out of the box settings) is Alt-F7. That does work fine for me.

Another workaround is to select your policy, hit tab twice and then enter. That should select and press the OK button.