diff --git a/lib/awful/widget/layout/horizontal.lua.in b/lib/awful/widget/layout/horizontal.lua.in
index ed22806a..ab7a9ac0 100644
--- a/lib/awful/widget/layout/horizontal.lua.in
+++ b/lib/awful/widget/layout/horizontal.lua.in
@@ -66,13 +66,8 @@ function center(bounds, widgets, screen)
     for _, w in ipairs(g) do
         w.x = w.x + (bounds.width - g.total.width) / 2
     end
-    -- if width is set for widgets table, make total this wide,
-    -- otherwise move total.x to reflect new position
-    if widgets.width then
-        g.total.width = widgets.width
-    else
-        g.total.x = g.total.x  + (bounds.width - g.total.width) / 2
-    end
+    g.total.x = 0
+    g.total.width = 0
     return g
 end
 
diff --git a/lib/awful/widget/layout/linear_common.lua.in b/lib/awful/widget/layout/linear_common.lua.in
index 00c3fcec..278449df 100644
--- a/lib/awful/widget/layout/linear_common.lua.in
+++ b/lib/awful/widget/layout/linear_common.lua.in
@@ -78,12 +78,8 @@ function linear_common.fixed(idx, bounds, widgets, screen)
                 v.width = t_width
                 v.height = t_height
 
-                -- subtract the space taken by the table from our bounds - only if the taken space
-                -- is either on the left or on the right of our bounds (not in the middle)
-                if g.total[idx.x] == bounds[idx.x] or
-                    g.total[idx.x] + g.total[idx.width] == bounds[idx.x] + bounds[idx.width] then
-                    bounds[idx.width] = bounds[idx.width] - g.total[idx.width]
-                end
+                -- subtract the space taken by the table from our bounds
+                bounds[idx.width] = bounds[idx.width] - g.total[idx.width]
                 -- we only move the 'x' coord if the taken space is on the left side of our bounds
                 if g.total[idx.x] == bounds[idx.x] then
                     bounds[idx.x] = bounds[idx.x] + g.total[idx.width] + m[idx.right]
@@ -141,7 +137,7 @@ function linear_common.fixed(idx, bounds, widgets, screen)
 
     -- calculate the total space taken by the widgets
     geometries.total[idx.width] = geometries.total[idx.width] - bounds[idx.width]
-    geometries.total[idx.height] = maxh
+    geometries.total[idx.height] = widgets[idx.height] or maxh
     -- if the bounds are on the left of what was empty in the beginning of this function,
     -- we move the total to the right. this, however, most probably happened cos of rightleft layout
     -- inside 'widgets', and only if there was nothing aligned to the left
@@ -280,7 +276,7 @@ function linear_common.flex(idx, bounds, widgets, screen)
 
     -- we have total already from the cloned bounds, just set the height to what we got
     geometries.total[idx.width] = geometries.total[idx.width] - bounds[idx.width]
-    geometries.total[idx.height] = maxh
+    geometries.total[idx.height] = widgets[idx.height] or maxh
 
     return geometries
 end
diff --git a/lib/awful/widget/layout/vertical.lua.in b/lib/awful/widget/layout/vertical.lua.in
index 0e51bcc6..c7061476 100644
--- a/lib/awful/widget/layout/vertical.lua.in
+++ b/lib/awful/widget/layout/vertical.lua.in
@@ -68,13 +68,8 @@ function center(bounds, widgets, screen)
     for _, w in ipairs(g) do
         w.y = w.y + (bounds.height - g.total.height) / 2
     end
-    -- if height is set for widgets table, make total this wide,
-    -- otherwise move total.y to reflect new position
-    if widgets.height then
-        g.total.height = widgets.height
-    else
-        g.total.y = g.total.y  + (bounds.height - g.total.height) / 2
-    end
+    g.total.y = 0
+    g.total.height = 0
     return g
 end