Currently matplotlib inline sets a number of rc parameters. If you naively assume (as I did until recently) that it simply instructs the notebook to show plots inline, this can lead to bugs overwriting earlier defined rc settings. With the stylesheet support that matplotlib now has it might be better to separate the backend choice from loading a style sheet that looks nice in the notebook.

I raised the issue with Fernando on Twitter who encouraged me to propose PR. I am posting it here to solicit more feedback before moving forward.