diff --git a/src/axes.jl b/src/axes.jl
index 142ccedb..0cd8ac4c 100644
--- a/src/axes.jl
+++ b/src/axes.jl
@@ -473,11 +473,11 @@ function axis_drawing_info(sp::Subplot)
         t2 = invf(f(ymax) - 0.015*(f(ymax)-f(ymin)))
 
         push!(spine_segs, (xmin,ymin), (xmax,ymin)) # bottom spine
-        push!(spine_segs, (xmin,ymax), (xmax,ymax)) # top spine
+        # push!(spine_segs, (xmin,ymax), (xmax,ymax)) # top spine
         for xtick in xticks[1]
             push!(spine_segs, (xtick, ymin), (xtick, t1)) # bottom tick
             push!(grid_segs,  (xtick, t1),   (xtick, t2)) # vertical grid
-            push!(spine_segs, (xtick, ymax), (xtick, t2)) # top tick
+            # push!(spine_segs, (xtick, ymax), (xtick, t2)) # top tick
         end
     end
 
@@ -488,11 +488,11 @@ function axis_drawing_info(sp::Subplot)
         t2 = invf(f(xmax) - 0.015*(f(xmax)-f(xmin)))
 
         push!(spine_segs, (xmin,ymin), (xmin,ymax)) # left spine
-        push!(spine_segs, (xmax,ymin), (xmax,ymax)) # right spine
+        # push!(spine_segs, (xmax,ymin), (xmax,ymax)) # right spine
         for ytick in yticks[1]
             push!(spine_segs, (xmin, ytick), (t1, ytick)) # left tick
             push!(grid_segs,  (t1, ytick),   (t2, ytick)) # horizontal grid
-            push!(spine_segs, (xmax, ytick), (t2, ytick)) # right tick
+            # push!(spine_segs, (xmax, ytick), (t2, ytick)) # right tick
         end
     end
 
diff --git a/src/backends.jl b/src/backends.jl
index 699f1cc1..c2376a80 100644
--- a/src/backends.jl
+++ b/src/backends.jl
@@ -51,15 +51,24 @@ _before_layout_calcs(plt::Plot) = nothing
 title_padding(sp::Subplot) = sp[:title] == "" ? 0mm : sp[:titlefont].pointsize * pt
 guide_padding(axis::Axis) = axis[:guide] == "" ? 0mm : axis[:guidefont].pointsize * pt
 
-# TODO: this should account for both tick font and the size/length/rotation of tick labels
+# account for the size/length/rotation of tick labels
 function tick_padding(axis::Axis)
+    vals, labs = get_ticks(axis)
     ptsz = axis[:tickfont].pointsize * pt
     if axis[:ticks] in (nothing,false)
         0mm
-    elseif axis[:letter] == :x
-        2mm + ptsz
     else
-        8mm
+        # we need to compute the size of the ticks generically
+        # this means computing the bounding box and then getting the width/height
+        longest_label = maximum(length(lab) for lab in labs)
+        labelwidth = 0.8longest_label * ptsz
+
+        # generalize by "rotating" y labels
+        rot = axis[:rotation] + (axis[:letter] == :y ? 90 : 0)
+
+        # now compute the generalized "height" after rotation as the "opposite+adjacent" of 2 triangles
+        hgt = abs(sind(rot)) * labelwidth + abs(cosd(rot)) * ptsz + 1mm
+        hgt
     end
 end
 
diff --git a/src/backends/gr.jl b/src/backends/gr.jl
index 9a4b3c7a..090aa499 100644
--- a/src/backends/gr.jl
+++ b/src/backends/gr.jl
@@ -337,10 +337,11 @@ end
 const _gr_point_mult = zeros(1)
 
 # set the font attributes... assumes _gr_point_mult has been populated already
-function gr_set_font(f::Font; halign = f.halign, valign = f.valign, color = f.color)
+function gr_set_font(f::Font; halign = f.halign, valign = f.valign,
+                              color = f.color, rotation = f.rotation)
     family = lowercase(f.family)
     GR.setcharheight(_gr_point_mult[1] * f.pointsize)
-    GR.setcharup(sin(f.rotation), cos(f.rotation))
+    GR.setcharup(sind(-rotation), cosd(-rotation))
     if haskey(gr_font_family, family)
         GR.settextfontprec(100 + gr_font_family[family], GR.TEXT_PRECISION_STRING)
     end
@@ -622,7 +623,10 @@ function gr_display(sp::Subplot{GRBackend}, w, h, viewport_canvas)
             # x labels
             flip = sp[:yaxis][:flip]
             mirror = sp[:xaxis][:mirror]
-            gr_set_font(sp[:xaxis][:tickfont], valign = (mirror ? :bottom : :top), color = sp[:xaxis][:foreground_color_axis])
+            gr_set_font(sp[:xaxis][:tickfont],
+                        valign = (mirror ? :bottom : :top),
+                        color = sp[:xaxis][:foreground_color_axis],
+                        rotation = sp[:xaxis][:rotation])
             for (cv, dv) in zip(xticks...)
                 # use xor ($) to get the right y coords
                 xi, yi = GR.wctondc(cv, (flip $ mirror) ? ymax : ymin)
@@ -635,7 +639,10 @@ function gr_display(sp::Subplot{GRBackend}, w, h, viewport_canvas)
             # y labels
             flip = sp[:xaxis][:flip]
             mirror = sp[:yaxis][:mirror]
-            gr_set_font(sp[:yaxis][:tickfont], halign = (mirror ? :left : :right), color = sp[:yaxis][:foreground_color_axis])
+            gr_set_font(sp[:yaxis][:tickfont],
+                        halign = (mirror ? :left : :right),
+                        color = sp[:yaxis][:foreground_color_axis],
+                        rotation = sp[:yaxis][:rotation])
             for (cv, dv) in zip(yticks...)
                 # use xor ($) to get the right y coords
                 xi, yi = GR.wctondc((flip $ mirror) ? xmax : xmin, cv)
diff --git a/src/backends/plotly.jl b/src/backends/plotly.jl
index de30acd3..dca86b14 100644
--- a/src/backends/plotly.jl
+++ b/src/backends/plotly.jl
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ function plotly_annotation_dict(x, y, ptxt::PlotText; xref="paper", yref="paper"
         :font => plotly_font(ptxt.font),
         :xanchor => ptxt.font.halign == :hcenter ? :center : ptxt.font.halign,
         :yanchor => ptxt.font.valign == :vcenter ? :middle : ptxt.font.valign,
-        :rotation => ptxt.font.rotation,
+        :rotation => -ptxt.font.rotation,
     ))
 end
 
@@ -166,6 +166,7 @@ function plotly_axis(axis::Axis, sp::Subplot)
         :title      => axis[:guide],
         :showgrid   => sp[:grid],
         :zeroline   => false,
+        :ticks      => "inside",
     )
 
     if letter in (:x,:y)
@@ -175,7 +176,7 @@ function plotly_axis(axis::Axis, sp::Subplot)
 
     rot = axis[:rotation]
     if rot != 0
-        ax[:tickangle] = rot
+        ax[:tickangle] = -rot
     end
 
     if !(axis[:ticks] in (nothing, :none))