diff --git a/river/Box.zig b/river/Box.zig
index 0ba3e63..58210a0 100644
--- a/river/Box.zig
+++ b/river/Box.zig
@@ -24,6 +24,15 @@ y: i32,
 width: u32,
 height: u32,
 
+pub fn fromWlrBox(wlr_box: c.wlr_box) Self {
+    return Self{
+        .x = @intCast(i32, wlr_box.x),
+        .y = @intCast(i32, wlr_box.y),
+        .width = @intCast(u32, wlr_box.width),
+        .height = @intCast(u32, wlr_box.height),
+    };
+}
+
 pub fn toWlrBox(self: Self) c.wlr_box {
     return c.wlr_box{
         .x = @intCast(c_int, self.x),
diff --git a/river/View.zig b/river/View.zig
index 171d829..4f8f0bb 100644
--- a/river/View.zig
+++ b/river/View.zig
@@ -59,10 +59,25 @@ floating: bool,
 /// True if the view is currently focused by at least one seat
 focused: bool,
 
-/// The current output-relative coordinates and dimensions of the view
+/// The current output-relative coordinates and dimensions of the view. The
+/// surface itself may have other dimensions which are stored in the
+/// surface_box member.
 current_box: Box,
+
+/// Pending dimensions of the view during a transaction
 pending_box: ?Box,
 
+/// The currently commited geometry of the surface. The x/y may be negative if
+/// for example the client has decided to draw CSD shadows a la GTK.
+surface_box: Box,
+
+/// The geometry the view's surface had when the transaction started and
+/// buffers were saved.
+saved_surface_box: Box,
+
+/// These are what we render while a transaction is in progress
+saved_buffers: std.ArrayList(SavedBuffer),
+
 /// The dimensions the view would have taken if we didn't force it to tile
 natural_width: u32,
 natural_height: u32,
@@ -72,9 +87,6 @@ pending_tags: ?u32,
 
 pending_serial: ?u32,
 
-/// These are what we render while a transaction is in progress
-saved_buffers: std.ArrayList(SavedBuffer),
-
 pub fn init(
     self: *Self,
     output: *Output,
@@ -151,6 +163,7 @@ pub fn saveBuffers(self: *Self) void {
         self.saved_buffers.items.len = 0;
     }
 
+    self.saved_surface_box = self.surface_box;
     self.forEachSurface(saveBuffersIterator, &self.saved_buffers);
 }
 
diff --git a/river/XdgToplevel.zig b/river/XdgToplevel.zig
index 5d43b92..c76312a 100644
--- a/river/XdgToplevel.zig
+++ b/river/XdgToplevel.zig
@@ -47,11 +47,6 @@ pub fn init(self: *Self, view: *View, wlr_xdg_surface: *c.wlr_xdg_surface) void
     self.wlr_xdg_surface = wlr_xdg_surface;
     wlr_xdg_surface.data = self;
 
-    // Inform the xdg toplevel that it is tiled.
-    // For example this prevents firefox from drawing shadows around itself
-    _ = c.wlr_xdg_toplevel_set_tiled(self.wlr_xdg_surface, c.WLR_EDGE_LEFT |
-        c.WLR_EDGE_RIGHT | c.WLR_EDGE_TOP | c.WLR_EDGE_BOTTOM);
-
     // Add listeners that are active over the view's entire lifetime
     self.listen_destroy.notify = handleDestroy;
     c.wl_signal_add(&self.wlr_xdg_surface.events.destroy, &self.listen_destroy);
@@ -110,10 +105,11 @@ pub fn forEachSurface(
 /// Return the surface at output coordinates ox, oy and set sx, sy to the
 /// corresponding surface-relative coordinates, if there is a surface.
 pub fn surfaceAt(self: Self, ox: f64, oy: f64, sx: *f64, sy: *f64) ?*c.wlr_surface {
+    const view = self.view;
     return c.wlr_xdg_surface_surface_at(
         self.wlr_xdg_surface,
-        ox - @intToFloat(f64, self.view.current_box.x),
-        oy - @intToFloat(f64, self.view.current_box.y),
+        ox - @intToFloat(f64, view.current_box.x - view.surface_box.x),
+        oy - @intToFloat(f64, view.current_box.y - view.surface_box.y),
         sx,
         sy,
     );
@@ -186,6 +182,14 @@ fn handleMap(listener: ?*c.wl_listener, data: ?*c_void) callconv(.C) void {
         view.setFloating(true);
     }
 
+    // If the toplevel has no parent, inform it that it is tiled. This
+    // prevents firefox, for example, from drawing shadows around itself.
+    if (wlr_xdg_toplevel.parent == null)
+        _ = c.wlr_xdg_toplevel_set_tiled(
+            self.wlr_xdg_surface,
+            c.WLR_EDGE_LEFT | c.WLR_EDGE_RIGHT | c.WLR_EDGE_TOP | c.WLR_EDGE_BOTTOM,
+        );
+
     view.map();
 }
 
@@ -202,22 +206,36 @@ fn handleUnmap(listener: ?*c.wl_listener, data: ?*c_void) callconv(.C) void {
 }
 
 /// Called when the surface is comitted
-/// TODO: check for unexpected change in size and react as needed
 fn handleCommit(listener: ?*c.wl_listener, data: ?*c_void) callconv(.C) void {
     const self = @fieldParentPtr(Self, "listen_commit", listener.?);
     const view = self.view;
 
+    var wlr_box: c.wlr_box = undefined;
+    c.wlr_xdg_surface_get_geometry(self.wlr_xdg_surface, &wlr_box);
+    const new_box = Box.fromWlrBox(wlr_box);
+
+    // If we have sent a configure changing the size
     if (view.pending_serial) |s| {
+        // Update the stored dimensions of the surface
+        view.surface_box = new_box;
+
         if (s == self.wlr_xdg_surface.configure_serial) {
+            // If this commit is in response to our configure, notify the
+            // transaction code.
             view.output.root.notifyConfigured();
             view.pending_serial = null;
         } else {
-            // If the view has not yet acked our configure, we need to send a
-            // frame done event so that they commit another buffer. These
+            // If the client has not yet acked our configure, we need to send a
+            // frame done event so that it commits another buffer. These
             // buffers won't be rendered since we are still rendering our
             // stashed buffer from when the transaction started.
             view.sendFrameDone();
         }
+    } else {
+        // TODO: handle unexpected change in dimensions
+        if (!std.meta.eql(view.surface_box, new_box))
+            Log.Error.log("View changed size unexpectedly", .{});
+        view.surface_box = new_box;
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/river/XwaylandView.zig b/river/XwaylandView.zig
index f978e50..171aba2 100644
--- a/river/XwaylandView.zig
+++ b/river/XwaylandView.zig
@@ -57,10 +57,12 @@ pub fn init(self: *Self, view: *View, wlr_xwayland_surface: *c.wlr_xwayland_surf
     c.wl_signal_add(&self.wlr_xwayland_surface.events.unmap, &self.listen_unmap);
 }
 
-/// Don't really care about efficiency with xwayland, we don't wait for them
-/// to ack anyways since they don't use serials.
 pub fn needsConfigure(self: Self) bool {
-    return true;
+    const view = self.view;
+    if (view.pending_box) |pending_box|
+        return view.current_box.width != pending_box.width or
+            view.current_box.height != pending_box.height;
+    return false;
 }
 
 /// Tell the client to take a new size
@@ -162,6 +164,14 @@ fn handleUnmap(listener: ?*c.wl_listener, data: ?*c_void) callconv(.C) void {
 fn handleCommit(listener: ?*c.wl_listener, data: ?*c_void) callconv(.C) void {
     const self = @fieldParentPtr(Self, "listen_commit", listener.?);
     const view = self.view;
+
+    view.surface_box = Box{
+        .x = 0,
+        .y = 0,
+        .width = @intCast(u32, self.wlr_xwayland_surface.surface.*.current.width),
+        .height = @intCast(u32, self.wlr_xwayland_surface.surface.*.current.height),
+    };
+
     // See comment in XwaylandView.configure()
     if (view.pending_serial != null) {
         view.output.root.notifyConfigured();
diff --git a/river/render.zig b/river/render.zig
index 6414630..14e8ae0 100644
--- a/river/render.zig
+++ b/river/render.zig
@@ -143,8 +143,8 @@ fn renderView(output: Output, view: *View, now: *c.timespec) void {
                 output,
                 saved_buffer.wlr_buffer.texture,
                 .{
-                    .x = saved_buffer.box.x + view.current_box.x,
-                    .y = saved_buffer.box.y + view.current_box.y,
+                    .x = saved_buffer.box.x + view.current_box.x - view.saved_surface_box.x,
+                    .y = saved_buffer.box.y + view.current_box.y - view.saved_surface_box.y,
                     .width = @intCast(c_int, saved_buffer.box.width),
                     .height = @intCast(c_int, saved_buffer.box.height),
                 },
@@ -155,8 +155,8 @@ fn renderView(output: Output, view: *View, now: *c.timespec) void {
         // a transaction and may simply render each toplevel surface.
         var rdata = SurfaceRenderData{
             .output = &output,
-            .output_x = view.current_box.x,
-            .output_y = view.current_box.y,
+            .output_x = view.current_box.x - view.surface_box.x,
+            .output_y = view.current_box.y - view.surface_box.y,
             .when = now,
         };