diff --git a/R/ggplotly.R b/R/ggplotly.R
index a1ab6b6522..e79776469f 100644
--- a/R/ggplotly.R
+++ b/R/ggplotly.R
@@ -690,8 +690,8 @@ gg2list <- function(p, width = NULL, height = NULL, tooltip = "all", source = "A
   l <- list(data = setNames(traces, NULL), layout = compact(gglayout))
   # ensure properties are boxed correctly
   l <- add_boxed(rm_asis(l))
-  l$width <- width
-  l$height <- height
+  l$layout$width <- width
+  l$layout$height <- height
   l$source <- source
   structure(l, class = "plotly_built")
 }
diff --git a/R/plotly.R b/R/plotly.R
index 5e2a6eaaa1..e266930c06 100644
--- a/R/plotly.R
+++ b/R/plotly.R
@@ -95,10 +95,8 @@ plot_ly <- function(data = data.frame(), ..., type = "scatter",
   # plotly objects should always have a _list_ of trace(s)
   p <- list(
     data = list(tr),
-    layout = NULL,
+    layout = list(width = width, height = height),
     url = NULL,
-    width = width,
-    height = height,
     source = source
   )
   
diff --git a/R/print.R b/R/print.R
index a22c9a65dd..8916ea0ece 100644
--- a/R/print.R
+++ b/R/print.R
@@ -60,8 +60,8 @@ as.widget <- function(x, ...) {
   htmlwidgets::createWidget(
     name = "plotly",
     x = x,
-    width = x$width,
-    height = x$height,
+    width = x$layout$width,
+    height = x$layout$height,
     sizingPolicy = htmlwidgets::sizingPolicy(
       padding = 5, 
       browser.fill = TRUE,
diff --git a/inst/htmlwidgets/plotly.js b/inst/htmlwidgets/plotly.js
index e9a3f90eda..ce0319ed11 100644
--- a/inst/htmlwidgets/plotly.js
+++ b/inst/htmlwidgets/plotly.js
@@ -31,6 +31,9 @@ HTMLWidgets.widget({
       instance.plotly = true;
       instance.autosize = x.layout.autosize;
     } else {
+      // for some reason, we must explictly set this explicitly?
+      // https://github.com/plotly/plotly.js/issues/537
+      x.layout.autosize = true;
       Plotly.newPlot(graphDiv, x.data, x.layout);
     }