diff --git a/R/tinyplot.R b/R/tinyplot.R
index cbd0838f..b703fad6 100644
--- a/R/tinyplot.R
+++ b/R/tinyplot.R
@@ -699,11 +699,12 @@ tinyplot.default = function(
     deparse1(substitute(y))
   }
   by_dep = deparse1(substitute(by))
+  null_by = is.null(by)
 
   ## coerce character variables to factors
   if (!is.null(x) && is.character(x)) x = factor(x)
   if (!is.null(y) && is.character(y)) y = factor(y)
-  if (!is.null(by) && is.character(by)) by = factor(by)
+  if (!null_by && is.character(by)) by = factor(by)
 
   # flag if x==by (currently only used for "boxplot", "spineplot" and "ridges" types)
   x_by = identical(x, by)
@@ -722,6 +723,7 @@ tinyplot.default = function(
     }
   }
   facet_attr = attributes(facet) ## TODO: better solution for restoring facet attributes?
+  null_facet = is.null(facet)
 
   if (is.null(x)) {
     ## Special catch for rect and segment plots without a specified y-var
@@ -764,7 +766,7 @@ tinyplot.default = function(
   if (nrow(datapoints) > 0) {
     datapoints[["rowid"]] = seq_len(nrow(datapoints))
     datapoints[["facet"]] = if (!is.null(facet)) facet else ""
-    datapoints[["by"]] = if (!is.null(by)) by else ""
+    datapoints[["by"]] = if (!null_by) by else ""
   }
 
   ## initialize empty list with information that type_data
@@ -783,6 +785,8 @@ tinyplot.default = function(
       facet        = facet,
       facet_by     = facet_by,
       facet.args   = facet.args,
+      null_by      = null_by,
+      null_facet   = null_facet,
       palette      = palette,
       ribbon.alpha = ribbon.alpha,
       xaxt         = xaxt,
@@ -859,11 +863,11 @@ tinyplot.default = function(
 
   # split data
   by_ordered = FALSE
-  by_continuous = !is.null(by) && inherits(datapoints$by, c("numeric", "integer"))
+  by_continuous = !null_by && inherits(datapoints$by, c("numeric", "integer"))
   if (isTRUE(by_continuous) && type %in% c("l", "b", "o", "ribbon", "polygon", "polypath", "boxplot")) {
     warning("\nContinuous legends not supported for this plot type. Reverting to discrete legend.")
     by_continuous = FALSE
-  } else if (!is.null(by)) {
+  } else if (!null_by) {
     by_ordered = is.ordered(by)
   }
 
@@ -878,7 +882,7 @@ tinyplot.default = function(
   }
 
   # aesthetics by group: col, bg, etc.
-  ngrps = if (is.null(by)) 1L else if (is.factor(by)) length(levels(by)) else if (by_continuous) 100L else length(unique(by))
+  ngrps = if (null_by) 1L else if (is.factor(by)) length(levels(by)) else if (by_continuous) 100L else length(unique(by))
   pch = by_pch(ngrps = ngrps, type = type, pch = pch)
   lty = by_lty(ngrps = ngrps, type = type, lty = lty)
   lwd = by_lwd(ngrps = ngrps, type = type, lwd = lwd)
@@ -942,7 +946,7 @@ tinyplot.default = function(
     legend_args[["x"]] = "none"
   }
 
-  if (is.null(by)) {
+  if (null_by) {
     if (is.null(legend)) {
       legend = "none"
       legend_args[["x"]] = "none"
@@ -1165,7 +1169,7 @@ tinyplot.default = function(
     # Split group-level data again to grab any "by" groups
     idata = split_data[[i]]
     iby = idata[["by"]]
-    if (!is.null(by)) { ## maybe all(iby=="")
+    if (!null_by) { ## maybe all(iby=="")
       if (isTRUE(by_continuous)) {
         idata[["col"]] = col[round(rescale_num(idata$by, from = range(datapoints$by), to = c(1, 100)))]
         idata[["bg"]] = bg[round(rescale_num(idata$by, from = range(datapoints$by), to = c(1, 100)))]
diff --git a/R/type_barplot.R b/R/type_barplot.R
index 1d024eed..944fc4ab 100644
--- a/R/type_barplot.R
+++ b/R/type_barplot.R
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@
 #' 
 #' # Example for numeric y aggregated by x (default: FUN = mean) + facets
 #' tinyplot(extra ~ ID | group, facet = "by", data = sleep,
-#'   type = "barplot", beside = TRUE, fill = 0.6)
+#'   type = "barplot", fill = 0.6)
 #' 
 #' # Fancy frequency table:
 #' tinyplot(Freq ~ Sex | Survived, facet = ~ Class, data = as.data.frame(Titanic),
@@ -73,8 +73,9 @@ type_barplot = function(width = 5/6, beside = FALSE, center = FALSE, FUN = NULL,
 
 #' @importFrom stats aggregate
 data_barplot = function(width = 5/6, beside = FALSE, center = FALSE, FUN = NULL, xlevels = NULL, xaxlabels = NULL, drop.zeros = FALSE) {
-    fun = function(datapoints, col, bg, lty, lwd, palette, xlab = NULL, ylab = NULL, xlim = NULL, ylim = NULL, xaxt = NULL, yaxl = NULL, yaxt = NULL, axes = TRUE, facet_by = NULL, ...) {
+    fun = function(datapoints, col, bg, lty, lwd, palette, xlab = NULL, ylab = NULL, xlim = NULL, ylim = NULL, xaxt = NULL, yaxl = NULL, yaxt = NULL, axes = TRUE, null_by, facet_by, ...) {
 
+        
         ## tabulate/aggregate datapoints
         if (is.null(datapoints$y)) {
           xlab = ylab
@@ -94,7 +95,7 @@ data_barplot = function(width = 5/6, beside = FALSE, center = FALSE, FUN = NULL,
         if (!is.factor(datapoints$by)) datapoints$by = factor(datapoints$by)
         if (!is.factor(datapoints$facet)) datapoints$facet = factor(datapoints$facet)
         
-        if (!beside && any(datapoints$y < 0)) {
+        if (isFALSE(null_by) && isFALSE(facet_by) && !beside && any(datapoints$y < 0)) {
           warning("'beside' must be TRUE if there are negative 'y' values")
           beside = TRUE
         }
diff --git a/R/type_boxplot.R b/R/type_boxplot.R
index b36dbbcb..19584370 100644
--- a/R/type_boxplot.R
+++ b/R/type_boxplot.R
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ draw_boxplot = function(range, width, varwidth, notch, outline, boxwex, staplewe
 
 
 data_boxplot = function() {
-    fun = function(datapoints, bg, col, palette, ...) {
+    fun = function(datapoints, bg, col, palette, null_by, null_facet, ...) {
         # Convert x to factor if it's not already
         datapoints$x = as.factor(datapoints$x)
 
@@ -104,10 +104,6 @@ data_boxplot = function() {
         names(xlabs) = xlvls
         datapoints$x = as.integer(datapoints$x)
 
-        # Handle ordering based on by and facet variables
-        null_by = length(unique(datapoints$by)) == 1
-        null_facet = length(unique(datapoints$facet)) == 1
-
         if (null_by && null_facet) {
             xord = order(datapoints$x)
         } else if (null_facet) {
diff --git a/R/type_ribbon.R b/R/type_ribbon.R
index 22c96323..8ae70d85 100644
--- a/R/type_ribbon.R
+++ b/R/type_ribbon.R
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ draw_ribbon = function() {
 
 data_ribbon = function(ribbon.alpha = NULL) {
     ribbon.alpha = sanitize_ribbon.alpha(ribbon.alpha)
-    fun = function(datapoints, xlabs, ...) {
+    fun = function(datapoints, xlabs, null_by, null_facet, ...) {
         # Convert x to factor if it's not already
         if (is.character(datapoints$x)) {
             datapoints$x = as.factor(datapoints$x)
@@ -81,10 +81,6 @@ data_ribbon = function(ribbon.alpha = NULL) {
             xlabs = NULL
         }
 
-        # Handle ordering based on by and facet variables
-        null_by = length(unique(datapoints$by)) == 1
-        null_facet = length(unique(datapoints$facet)) == 1
-
         if (null_by && null_facet) {
             xord = order(datapoints$x)
         } else if (null_facet) {
diff --git a/R/type_ridge.R b/R/type_ridge.R
index 1456af4d..aa492980 100644
--- a/R/type_ridge.R
+++ b/R/type_ridge.R
@@ -252,11 +252,11 @@ data_ridge = function(bw = "nrd0", adjust = 1, kernel = "gaussian", n = 512,
                       col = NULL,
                       alpha = NULL
                       ) {
-  fun = function(datapoints, yaxt = NULL, ...) {
+  fun = function(datapoints, yaxt = NULL, null_by, ...) {
     #  catch for special cases
-    anyby = length(unique(datapoints$by)) != 1
-    x_by = identical(datapoints$x, datapoints$by)
-    y_by = identical(datapoints$y, datapoints$by)
+    anyby = !null_by
+    x_by = anyby && identical(datapoints$x, datapoints$by)
+    y_by = anyby && identical(datapoints$y, datapoints$by)
     if (x_by) {
       gradient = TRUE
       datapoints$by = ""
diff --git a/R/type_spineplot.R b/R/type_spineplot.R
index 1701acec..2448debe 100644
--- a/R/type_spineplot.R
+++ b/R/type_spineplot.R
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ data_spineplot = function(off = NULL, breaks = NULL, ylevels = ylevels, xaxlabel
     fun = function(
       datapoints,
       by = NULL, col = NULL, bg = NULL, palette = NULL,
-      facet = NULL, facet.args = NULL, xlim = NULL, ylim = NULL, axes = TRUE, xaxt = NULL, yaxt = NULL,
+      facet = NULL, facet.args = NULL, xlim = NULL, ylim = NULL, axes = TRUE, xaxt = NULL, yaxt = NULL, null_by, null_facet,
       ...
     ) {
       
@@ -215,7 +215,7 @@ data_spineplot = function(off = NULL, breaks = NULL, ylevels = ylevels, xaxlabel
         if (isTRUE(y_by)) datapoints$by = factor(rep(yaxlabels, length.out = nrow(datapoints)))
           
         ## grayscale flag
-        grayscale = length(unique(datapoints[["by"]])) == 1 && is.null(palette) && is.null(.tpar[["palette.qualitative"]])
+        grayscale = null_by && is.null(palette) && is.null(.tpar[["palette.qualitative"]])
         
         out = list(
           x = c(datapoints$xmin, datapoints$xmax), 
@@ -227,8 +227,8 @@ data_spineplot = function(off = NULL, breaks = NULL, ylevels = ylevels, xaxlabel
           col = col,
           bg = bg,
           datapoints = datapoints,
-          by = if (length(unique(datapoints$by)) == 1) by else datapoints$by, 
-          facet = if (length(unique(datapoints$facet)) == 1) facet else datapoints$facet,
+          by = if (null_by) by else datapoints$by, 
+          facet = if (null_facet) facet else datapoints$facet,
           axes = FALSE,
           frame.plot = FALSE,
           xaxt = "n",
diff --git a/R/type_violin.R b/R/type_violin.R
index 06369a70..30b66561 100644
--- a/R/type_violin.R
+++ b/R/type_violin.R
@@ -78,13 +78,11 @@ type_violin = function(
 
 data_violin = function(bw = "nrd0", adjust = 1, kernel = "gaussian", n = 512,
                         joint.bw = "none", trim = FALSE, width = 0.9) {
-    fun = function(datapoints,  by, facet, ylab, col, bg, palette, log, ...) {
+    fun = function(datapoints,  by, facet, ylab, col, bg, palette, log, null_by, null_facet, ...) {
         
         # Handle ordering based on by and facet variables
-        ngrps = length(unique(datapoints$by))
-        null_by = ngrps == 1
-        nfacets = length(unique(datapoints$facet))
-        null_facet = nfacets == 1
+        ngrps = if (null_by) 1 else length(unique(datapoints$by))
+        nfacets = if (null_facet) 1 else length(unique(datapoints$facet))
         
         #  catch for special cases
         x_by = y_by = facet_by = FALSE
diff --git a/man/type_barplot.Rd b/man/type_barplot.Rd
index af0e80e3..35972f0b 100644
--- a/man/type_barplot.Rd
+++ b/man/type_barplot.Rd
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ tinytheme("clean2")
 
 # Example for numeric y aggregated by x (default: FUN = mean) + facets
 tinyplot(extra ~ ID | group, facet = "by", data = sleep,
-  type = "barplot", beside = TRUE, fill = 0.6)
+  type = "barplot", fill = 0.6)
 
 # Fancy frequency table:
 tinyplot(Freq ~ Sex | Survived, facet = ~ Class, data = as.data.frame(Titanic),