diff --git a/lib/layout.js b/lib/layout.js
index 26b07304..e68d8e79 100644
--- a/lib/layout.js
+++ b/lib/layout.js
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ function updateInputGraph(inputGraph, layoutGraph) {
 var graphNumAttrs = ["nodesep", "edgesep", "ranksep", "marginx", "marginy"];
 var graphDefaults = { ranksep: 50, edgesep: 20, nodesep: 50, rankdir: "tb" };
 var graphAttrs = ["acyclicer", "ranker", "rankdir", "align"];
-var nodeNumAttrs = ["width", "height"];
+var nodeNumAttrs = ["width", "height", "rank"];
 var nodeDefaults = { width: 0, height: 0 };
 var edgeNumAttrs = ["minlen", "weight", "width", "height", "labeloffset"];
 var edgeDefaults = {
diff --git a/lib/order/cross-count.js b/lib/order/cross-count.js
index 2f8b6b0f..b5c93601 100644
--- a/lib/order/cross-count.js
+++ b/lib/order/cross-count.js
@@ -22,12 +22,40 @@ module.exports = crossCount;
  */
 function crossCount(g, layering) {
   var cc = 0;
-  for (var i = 1; i < layering.length; ++i) {
-    cc += twoLayerCrossCount(g, layering[i-1], layering[i]);
+  for (var i = 0; i < layering.length; ++i) {
+    cc += singleLayerCrossCount(g, layering[i]);
+    if (i > 0) {
+      cc += twoLayerCrossCount(g, layering[i-1], layering[i]);
+    }
   }
   return cc;
 }
 
+
+// Count crossings between a single layer, in cases where manual ranking
+// enables edges between nodes with the same rank.
+function singleLayerCrossCount(g, layer) {
+  var layerRank = g.node(layer[0]).rank;
+  var layerIndex = _.zipObject(
+    layer,
+     _.map(layer, function (v, i) { return i; })
+  );
+
+  var cc = 0;
+  _.forEach(layer, function(n, i) {
+    _.forEach(g.inEdges(n), function(e) {
+      if (g.node(e.v).rank == layerRank) {
+        var otherPos = layerIndex[e.v];
+        if (Math.abs(otherPos - i) > 1) {
+          cc++;
+        }
+      }
+    });
+  });
+  return cc;
+}
+
+
 function twoLayerCrossCount(g, northLayer, southLayer) {
   // Sort all of the edges between the north and south layers by their position
   // in the north layer and then the south. Map these edges to the position of
diff --git a/lib/rank/index.js b/lib/rank/index.js
index 5ec26c8d..58c38b9a 100644
--- a/lib/rank/index.js
+++ b/lib/rank/index.js
@@ -27,14 +27,21 @@ module.exports = rank;
  *       fix them up later.
  */
 function rank(g) {
+  var ranker = g.graph().ranker;
+  if (ranker instanceof Function) {
+    return ranker(g)
+  }
+
   switch(g.graph().ranker) {
-  case "network-simplex": networkSimplexRanker(g); break;
-  case "tight-tree": tightTreeRanker(g); break;
-  case "longest-path": longestPathRanker(g); break;
-  default: networkSimplexRanker(g);
+    case "network-simplex": networkSimplexRanker(g); break;
+    case "tight-tree": tightTreeRanker(g); break;
+    case "longest-path": longestPathRanker(g); break;
+    case "none": break;
+    default: networkSimplexRanker(g);
   }
 }
 
+
 // A fast and simple ranker, but results are far from optimal.
 var longestPathRanker = longestPath;