Google-hangouts – G+ Hangouts, is there any way to prevent the hall of mirrors effect when sharing the desktop

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In G+ hangouts, I'm often sharing my desktop. Sometimes when I do this I mute the other participants because I'm giving some kind of lecture, but I will check back to see what they're saying in chat for questions.

When I do this, there's a hhhaaallllll ooofff mmmiiirrrrrrooorrrsss effect where my window is drawn inside itself down into infinity. It's very distracting and it stresses people out. 🙂

This isn't a problem if I'm sharing just one window, but I often need to share the entire desktop so multiple windows are visible.

Is there any way to prevent this effect, or to get chat messages without returning to the hangout window?

Best Answer

I have had this same issue on webinars and the best solution I came up with was to log in with another account on another computer. You could similarly set it up with a second monitor

Another solution I used was if I had someone else online helping me, I had them sit in the hangout and text me the questions (or I would sit in and text it to them). It doesn't directly fix you issue, but that is how I solved it

Related Solutions

Google Hangouts – How to Join Without a Google+ Account

I'm not sure if this is a feature that has been introduced in the year since the question was asked, but it appears that you can use a limited version without a Google+ account via Gmail chat according to this support article:

If you don’t have a Google+ account you can start or join a limited hangout, which only includes the option to hang out with 1 other person. If you’d like access to all Hangouts’ features including the ability to hang out with up to 9 people, share your screen, and use cool Hangouts’ apps, you can upgrade to a free Google+ account

This sounds similar to what Korey has encountered and what Freedom tried to suggest.

This answer presumes you have GMail/Google account, but not a Google+ one. Unfortunately Google seem to be closing off their systems, highlighted by the discontinuation of XMPP support.

Google-hangouts – In the new Google Hangouts, is there any way to change the emoticon set

In Firefox, add the following rules to your userContent.css

@-moz-document domain(google.com) {
    .Pt span { opacity: 1 !important; width: auto !important; }
    .Pt div { display: none !important; }
}

This should remove the image and display the Unicode equivalent instead. What you actually see is dependent on your font support.

If you want to replace them with a different set of images (and have a lot of patience), you can add the following rules instead, for each one you want to change.

@-moz-document domain(google.com) {
    .e1f60a { background: url('<path to replacement>') !important; } /* :) */
}

The class for each one can be found by inspecting the DOM of the selection menu.

The old static sprite sheets are ~~currently here: set 1 set 2 & 3 set 4~~ no longer available. Unfortunately the animated ones were done with JavaScript rather than a GIF, so can't be replicated easily.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Google Hangouts – How to Join Without a Google+ Account

Google-hangouts – In the new Google Hangouts, is there any way to change the emoticon set

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