diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index e462eebcd4..b1f9c1db81 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 Package: plotly
 Type: Package
 Title: Interactive, publication-quality graphs online.
-Version: 0.5.19
+Version: 0.5.20
 Authors@R: c(person("Chris", "Parmer", role = c("aut", "cre"),
     email = "chris@plot.ly"),
     person("Scott", "Chamberlain", role = "aut",
diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 3ec054e9c8..4a5c9c3b12 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+0.5.20 -- 9 February 2015.
+
+Add alpha transparency to fill conversion.
+Let geom_area support colour and fill aesthetics.
+
 0.5.19 -- 23 January 2015.
 
 Support class conversion such as as.Date() within ggplot code.
diff --git a/R/colour_conversion.R b/R/colour_conversion.R
index 7a7ab318ff..1f520c15fd 100644
--- a/R/colour_conversion.R
+++ b/R/colour_conversion.R
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #' Convert R colours to RGBA hexadecimal colour values
 #' @param x character for colour, for example: "white"
-#' @param alpha alpha
+#' @param alpha transparency alpha
 #' @return hexadecimal colour value (if is.na(x), return "transparent" for compatibility with Plotly)
 #' @export
 toRGB <- function(x, alpha=1) {
@@ -20,7 +20,8 @@ toRGB <- function(x, alpha=1) {
 
 #' Use default ggplot colour for fill (gray20) if not declared
 #' @param x character for colour
+#' @param alpha transparency alpha
 #' @return hexadecimal colour value
-toFill <- function(x) {
-  ifelse(!is.null(x), toRGB(x), toRGB("gray20"))
+toFill <- function(x, alpha=1) {
+  ifelse(!is.null(x), toRGB(x, alpha), toRGB("gray20", alpha))
 }
diff --git a/R/ggplotly.R b/R/ggplotly.R
index 49c4b4a872..868122718f 100644
--- a/R/ggplotly.R
+++ b/R/ggplotly.R
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@ markLegends <-
        path=c("linetype", "size", "colour", "shape"),
        polygon=c("colour", "fill", "linetype", "size", "group"),
        bar=c("colour", "fill"),
+       area=c("colour", "fill"),
        step=c("linetype", "size", "colour"),
        boxplot=c("x"),
        text=c("colour"))
diff --git a/R/plotly-package.r b/R/plotly-package.r
index a39c58d874..96ec60eb3f 100644
--- a/R/plotly-package.r
+++ b/R/plotly-package.r
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 #' \itemize{
 #'  \item Package: plotly
 #'  \item Type: Package
-#'  \item Version: 0.5.19
+#'  \item Version: 0.5.20
 #'  \item Date: 2014-03-07
 #'  \item License: MIT
 #' }
diff --git a/R/plotly.R b/R/plotly.R
index 7fb269893e..7e86ed3db3 100644
--- a/R/plotly.R
+++ b/R/plotly.R
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ For more help, see https://plot.ly/R or contact <chris@plot.ly>.")
   
   # public attributes/methods that the user has access to
   pub <- list(username=username, key=key, filename="from api", fileopt=NULL,
-              version="0.5.19")
+              version="0.5.20")
   priv <- list()
   
   pub$makecall <- function(args, kwargs, origin) {
diff --git a/R/trace_generation.R b/R/trace_generation.R
index 5477972f5d..3457c78b40 100644
--- a/R/trace_generation.R
+++ b/R/trace_generation.R
@@ -556,7 +556,8 @@ geom2trace <- list(
          type="scatter",
          line=paramORdefault(params, aes2line, ribbon.line.defaults),
          fill="tozeroy",
-         fillcolor=toFill(params$fill))
+         fillcolor=toFill(params$fill, ifelse(is.null(params$alpha), 1,
+                                              params$alpha)))
   },
   ribbon=function(data, params) {
     list(x=c(data$x[1], data$x, rev(data$x)),
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-ggplot-area.R b/tests/testthat/test-ggplot-area.R
index 3fef99ad47..49ec966aec 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-ggplot-area.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-ggplot-area.R
@@ -15,3 +15,14 @@ test_that("sanity check for geom_area", {
 })
 
 save_outputs(ar, "area")
+
+# Test alpha transparency in fill color
+gg <- ggplot(huron) + geom_area(aes(x=year, y=level), alpha=0.4)
+L <- gg2list(gg)
+
+test_that("transparency alpha in geom_area is converted", {
+  expect_identical(L[[1]]$line$color, "transparent")
+  expect_identical(L[[1]]$fillcolor, "rgba(51,51,51,0.4)")
+})
+
+save_outputs(gg, "area-fillcolor")