diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 3e123136a..ea7d92b5f 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,12 @@
+2002-07-12  Havoc Pennington  <hp@redhat.com>
+
+	* src/window.c (meta_window_new): try to maximize windows that 
+	are too big for the work area
+
+	* src/place.c (find_next_cascade): don't let the cascade algorithm
+	place windows off the screen, and fix it to always exhaustively
+	search the window list for cascade parents.
+
 2002-07-11  Havoc Pennington  <hp@pobox.com>
 
 	* src/metacity-dialog.c (main): option to display error when a
diff --git a/src/place.c b/src/place.c
index 76191e6d5..023ff7dac 100644
--- a/src/place.c
+++ b/src/place.c
@@ -160,16 +160,33 @@ find_next_cascade (MetaWindow *window,
           cascade_y = wy;
         }
       else
-        goto found; /* no window at this cascade point. */
+        {
+          /* Keep searching for a further-down-the-diagonal window. */
+        }
         
       tmp = tmp->next;
     }
 
-  /* cascade_x and cascade_y will match the last window in the list. */
+  /* cascade_x and cascade_y will match the last window in the list
+   * that was "in the way" (in the approximate cascade diagonal)
+   */
   
- found:
   g_list_free (sorted);
 
+  /* don't place windows off the screen */
+  if (((cascade_x + (window->frame ? window->frame->rect.width : window->rect.width)) >
+       (work_area.x + work_area.width)) ||
+      ((cascade_y + (window->frame ? window->frame->rect.height : window->rect.height)) >
+       (work_area.y + work_area.height)))
+    {
+      /* FIXME it would be better to try to start a new cascade to the
+       * right of the last one, probably. Instead of just falling back
+       * to "origin"
+       */
+      cascade_x = MAX (0, work_area.x);
+      cascade_y = MAX (0, work_area.y);
+    }
+  
   /* Convert coords to position of window, not position of frame. */
   if (fgeom == NULL)
     {
diff --git a/src/window.c b/src/window.c
index 838c95867..882f9770c 100644
--- a/src/window.c
+++ b/src/window.c
@@ -609,6 +609,24 @@ meta_window_new (MetaDisplay *display, Window xwindow,
       }
   }
   
+  /* Maximize windows if they are too big for their work
+   * area (bit of a hack here). Assume undecorated windows
+   * probably don't intend to be maximized.
+   */
+  if (window->has_maximize_func && window->decorated)
+    {
+      MetaRectangle workarea;
+      MetaRectangle outer;
+      
+      meta_window_get_work_area (window, TRUE, &workarea);      
+
+      meta_window_get_outer_rect (window, &outer);
+      
+      if (outer.width >= workarea.width &&
+          outer.height >= workarea.height)
+        meta_window_maximize (window);
+    }
+  
   /* Sync stack changes */
   meta_stack_thaw (window->screen->stack);