diff --git a/src/Plots.jl b/src/Plots.jl
index 424b632f..3f5a1d5e 100644
--- a/src/Plots.jl
+++ b/src/Plots.jl
@@ -69,6 +69,7 @@ export
     backend,
     backends,
     backend_name,
+    add_backend,
     aliases,
     dataframes,
 
diff --git a/src/backends.jl b/src/backends.jl
index aa8a7c9b..2313ef03 100644
--- a/src/backends.jl
+++ b/src/backends.jl
@@ -44,6 +44,9 @@ include("backends/web.jl")
 
 # ---------------------------------------------------------
 
+add_backend(pkg::Symbol) = add_backend(_backend_instance(pkg))
+add_backend(b::AbstractBackend) = warn("No custom install defined for $(backend_name(b))")
+
 # don't do anything as a default
 _create_backend_figure(plt::Plot) = nothing
 _prepare_plot_object(plt::Plot) = nothing
diff --git a/src/backends/plotly.jl b/src/backends/plotly.jl
index 874c5c72..f59a8cc9 100644
--- a/src/backends/plotly.jl
+++ b/src/backends/plotly.jl
@@ -47,6 +47,11 @@ is_string_supported(::PlotlyBackend) = true
 
 # --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
+function add_backend(::PlotlyBackend)
+    Pkg.build("Plots")
+end
+
+
 const _plotly_js_path = joinpath(dirname(@__FILE__), "..", "..", "deps", "plotly-latest.min.js")
 
 function _initialize_backend(::PlotlyBackend; kw...)
diff --git a/src/backends/plotlyjs.jl b/src/backends/plotlyjs.jl
index a96587e6..3f2c6bad 100644
--- a/src/backends/plotlyjs.jl
+++ b/src/backends/plotlyjs.jl
@@ -11,6 +11,17 @@ is_string_supported(::PlotlyJSBackend) = true
 
 # --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
+
+function add_backend(::PlotlyJSBackend)
+    if !is_installed("PlotlyJS")
+        Pkg.add("PlotlyJS")
+        @eval import Blink
+        Blink.AtomShell.install()
+        Pkg.add("Rsvg")
+    end
+end
+
+
 function _initialize_backend(::PlotlyJSBackend; kw...)
     @eval begin
         import PlotlyJS
diff --git a/src/backends/pyplot.jl b/src/backends/pyplot.jl
index 2b0d748a..4bb074bb 100644
--- a/src/backends/pyplot.jl
+++ b/src/backends/pyplot.jl
@@ -47,6 +47,14 @@ is_subplot_supported(::PyPlotBackend) = true
 
 # --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
+function add_backend(::PyPlotBackend)
+    if !is_installed("PyPlot")
+        withenv("PYTHON" => "") do
+            Pkg.add("PyPlot")
+            Pkg.build("PyPlot")
+        end
+    end
+end
 
 function _initialize_backend(::PyPlotBackend)
     @eval begin
diff --git a/src/output.jl b/src/output.jl
index 8474223d..f92d8047 100644
--- a/src/output.jl
+++ b/src/output.jl
@@ -255,9 +255,15 @@ function setup_atom()
         # @eval import Atom, Media
         @eval import Atom
 
+        # default text/plain passes to html... handles Interact issues
+        function Base.show(io::IO, m::MIME"text/plain", plt::Plot)
+            show(io, MIME("text/html"), plt)
+        end
+
         # for inline values, display the plot (gui) and return a graph icon
         function Atom.Media.render(::Atom.Inline, plt::Plot)
-            display(PlotsDisplay(), plt)
+            # info("using Media.render")
+            display(plt)
             Atom.icon("graph")
         end