I've recently moved back to using irssi as my IRC client, because when combined with GNU screen it can be kept independent of a graphical session, or even better, of a particular client machine (if you have a server somewhere). Since I have a home fileserver at the moment, I want my IRC client to always be running there. However, my usual workflow to do this is to open a terminal, SSH to the server, resume screen, move the window and resize it. This is far from optimal for something I usually want open...

Instead, I pieced together a command that I can use as a panel shortcut to do it all for me:

gnome-terminal --geometry 100x30-0-0 -x \
        ssh <hostname> -t "screen -D -RR -S irssi irssi"

gnome-terminal --geometry 100x30-0-0 -x

Open "gnome-terminal" at the bottom right of the screen with a size of 100 characters by 30. Run the rest of the command inside the terminal.

ssh <hostname> -t

Connect to <hostname> and execute the supplied command in an interactive pseudo-TTY.

screen -D -RR -S irssi irssi

Do whatever necessary to gain control of the "irssi" screen session if it exists, otherwise create it and run irssi inside it.