diff --git a/src/io/gts.jl b/src/io/gts.jl
index 9c3c33b..88c421e 100644
--- a/src/io/gts.jl
+++ b/src/io/gts.jl
@@ -12,15 +12,13 @@ function parseGtsLine( s::AbstractString, C, T=eltype(C) )
     end
 end
 
-function load( st::Stream{format"GTS"}, MeshType=GLNormalMesh )
+function load( st::Stream{format"GTS"}; facetype=GLTriangleFace, pointtype=Point)
     io = stream(st)
     head = readline( io )
-    FT = facetype(MeshType)
-    VT = vertextype(MeshType)
 
     nVertices, nEdges, nFacets = parseGtsLine( head, Tuple{Int,Int,Int} )
     iV = iE = iF = 1
-    vertices = Vector{VT}(undef, nVertices)
+    vertices = Vector{pointtype}(undef, nVertices)
     edges = Vector{Vector{Int}}(undef, nEdges)
     facets = Vector{Vector{Int}}(undef, nFacets)
     for full_line::String in eachline(io)
@@ -30,7 +28,7 @@ function load( st::Stream{format"GTS"}, MeshType=GLNormalMesh )
 
         if !startswith(line, "#") && !isempty(line) && !all(iscntrl, line) #ignore comments
             if iV <= nVertices
-                vertices[iV] = parseGtsLine( line, VT )
+                vertices[iV] = parseGtsLine( line, pointtype )
                 iV += 1
             elseif iV > nVertices && iE <= nEdges
                 edges[iE] = parseGtsLine( line, Array{Int} )
@@ -41,8 +39,8 @@ function load( st::Stream{format"GTS"}, MeshType=GLNormalMesh )
             end # if
         end # if
     end # for
-    faces = [ FT( union( edges[facets[i][1]], edges[facets[i][2]], edges[facets[i][3]] ) ) for i in 1:length(facets) ]  # orientation not guaranteed
-    return MeshType( vertices, faces )
+    faces = [ facetype( union( edges[facets[i][1]], edges[facets[i][2]], edges[facets[i][3]] ) ) for i in 1:length(facets) ]  # orientation not guaranteed
+    return Mesh( vertices, faces )
 end
 
 function save( st::Stream{format"GTS"}, mesh::AbstractMesh )
diff --git a/src/io/ifs.jl b/src/io/ifs.jl
index 2a6c67d..d50a81b 100644
--- a/src/io/ifs.jl
+++ b/src/io/ifs.jl
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-function load(fs::Stream{format"IFS"}, MeshType = GLNormalMesh)
+function load(fs::Stream{format"IFS"}; facetype=GLTriangleFace, pointtype=Point3f)
     io = stream(fs)
     function str()
         n = read(io, UInt32)
@@ -11,15 +11,15 @@ function load(fs::Stream{format"IFS"}, MeshType = GLNormalMesh)
     end
     nverts = read(io, UInt32)
     verts_float = read(io, Float32, nverts * 3)
-    verts = reinterpret(Point3f0, verts_float)
+    verts = reinterpret(pointtype, verts_float)
     tris = str()
     if tris != "TRIANGLES\0"
         error("$(filename(fs)) does not seem to be of format IFS")
     end
     nfaces = read(io, UInt32)
     faces_int = read(io, UInt32, nfaces * 3)
-    faces = reinterpret(GLTriangle, faces_int)
-    MeshType(vertices = verts, faces = faces)
+    faces = reinterpret(facetype, faces_int)
+    return GeometryBasics.mesh(vertices = verts, faces = faces)
 end
 
 function save(fs::Stream{format"IFS"}, msh::AbstractMesh; meshname = "mesh")
@@ -29,8 +29,8 @@ function save(fs::Stream{format"IFS"}, msh::AbstractMesh; meshname = "mesh")
         write(io, UInt32(length(s0)))
         write(io, s0)
     end
-    vts = decompose(Point3f0, msh)
-    fcs = decompose(GLTriangle, msh)
+    vts = decompose(Point3f, msh)
+    fcs = decompose(GLTriangleFace, msh)
 
     # write the header
     write0str("IFS")
diff --git a/src/io/obj.jl b/src/io/obj.jl
index 4101bf3..af25d59 100644
--- a/src/io/obj.jl
+++ b/src/io/obj.jl
@@ -5,11 +5,10 @@
 ##############################
 
 function load(io::Stream{format"OBJ"}; facetype=GLTriangleFace,
-    pointtype=Point3f, normaltype=Vec3f, uvtype=Vec2f)
+        pointtype=Point3f, normaltype=Vec3f, uvtype=Any)
 
     points, v_normals, uv, faces = pointtype[], normaltype[], uvtype[], Any[]
-    last_command = ""
-    attrib_type  = nothing
+
     for full_line in eachline(stream(io))
         # read a line, remove newline and leading/trailing whitespaces
         line = strip(chomp(full_line))
@@ -54,7 +53,7 @@ function load(io::Stream{format"OBJ"}; facetype=GLTriangleFace,
                         append!(faces, GeometryBasics.UVFace.(pos_faces, uv_faces))
                     else
                         normal_faces = triangulated_faces(facetype, getindex.(fs, 3))
-                        append!(faces, GeometryBasics.NormalUVFace.(pos_faces, normal_faces, uv_faces))
+                        append!(faces, GeometryBasics.UVNormalFace.(pos_faces, uv_faces, normal_faces))
                     end
                 else
                     append!(faces, triangulated_faces(facetype, lines))
@@ -65,22 +64,15 @@ function load(io::Stream{format"OBJ"}; facetype=GLTriangleFace,
         end
     end
 
-    vertex_attributes = Dict{Symbol, Any}()
-
-    # TODO: add GeometryBasics convenience for dropping nothing vertex attributes?
-    if !isempty(v_normals)
-        vertex_attributes[:normal] = v_normals
-    end
-
-    if !isempty(uv)
-        vertex_attributes[:uv] = uv
-    end
-
     # TODO: Can we avoid this conversion?
     #       Also, is it safe to do? Or can an obj file define different face types for different groups?
     faces = convert(Vector{typeof(first(faces))}, faces)
 
-    return GeometryBasics.mesh(points, faces, facetype = facetype; vertex_attributes...)
+    return GeometryBasics.mesh(
+        points, faces, facetype = facetype; 
+        uv = isempty(uv) ? nothing : uv, 
+        normal = isempty(v_normals) ? nothing : v_normals
+    )
 end
 
 # of form "faces v1 v2 v3 ....""
@@ -111,7 +103,7 @@ function save(f::Stream{format"OBJ"}, mesh::AbstractMesh)
         end
     end
 
-    if hasproperty(mesh, :normals)
+    if hasproperty(mesh, :normal)
         for n in decompose_normals(mesh)
             println(io, "vn ", n[1], " ", n[2], " ", n[3])
         end
diff --git a/src/io/ply.jl b/src/io/ply.jl
index f4a537e..d44f116 100644
--- a/src/io/ply.jl
+++ b/src/io/ply.jl
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ function load(fs::Stream{format"PLY_ASCII"}; facetype=GLTriangleFace, pointtype=
         end
     end
     if has_normals
-        return Mesh(meta(points; normals=point_normals), faces)
+        return Mesh(points, faces; normal = point_normals)
     else
         return Mesh(points, faces)
     end
@@ -194,7 +194,7 @@ function load(fs::Stream{format"PLY_BINARY"}; facetype=GLTriangleFace, pointtype
     end
 
     if has_normals
-        return Mesh(meta(points; normals=point_normals), faces)
+        return Mesh(points, faces; normal = point_normals)
     else
         return Mesh(points, faces)
     end
diff --git a/test/runtests.jl b/test/runtests.jl
index 70ae35b..b3bf0b9 100644
--- a/test/runtests.jl
+++ b/test/runtests.jl
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ using Test
 const tf = joinpath(dirname(@__FILE__), "testfiles")
 using MeshIO
 
+using GeometryBasics: GLNormalMesh
+
 function test_face_indices(mesh)
     for face in faces(mesh)
         for index in face
@@ -23,6 +25,8 @@ end
     ]
     uvn_mesh = merge(map(uv_normal_mesh, mesh))
     mesh = merge(map(triangle_mesh, mesh))
+    empty!(uvn_mesh.views)
+    empty!(mesh.views)
 
 
     mktempdir() do tmpdir
@@ -54,6 +58,8 @@ end
             @test mesh_loaded == uvn_mesh
         end
     end
+
+
     @testset "Real world files" begin
 
         @testset "STL" begin
@@ -67,7 +73,7 @@ end
             @test msh isa GLNormalMesh
             @test length(faces(msh)) == 828
             @test length(coordinates(msh)) == 2484
-            @test length(msh.normals) == 2484
+            @test length(normals(msh)) == 2484
             @test test_face_indices(msh)
 
             mktempdir() do tmpdir
@@ -76,7 +82,7 @@ end
                 @test msh1 isa GLNormalMesh
                 @test faces(msh) == faces(msh1)
                 @test coordinates(msh) == coordinates(msh1)
-                @test msh.normals == msh1.normals
+                @test normals(msh) == normals(msh1)
             end
 
             msh = load(joinpath(tf, "binary_stl_from_solidworks.STL"))
@@ -172,29 +178,9 @@ end
         end
         @testset "GTS" begin
             # TODO: FileIO upstream
-            #msh = load(joinpath(tf, "sphere5.gts"))
-            #@test typeof(msh) == GLNormalMesh
-            #test_face_indices(msh)
-        end
-
-        @testset "Index remapping" begin
-            pos_faces    = GLTriangleFace[(5, 6, 7), (5, 6, 8), (5, 7, 8)]
-            normal_faces = GLTriangleFace[(5, 6, 7), (3, 6, 8), (5, 7, 8)]
-            uv_faces     = GLTriangleFace[(1, 2, 3), (4, 2, 5), (1, 3, 1)]
-            
-            #   unique combinations    ->      new indices
-            # 551 662 773 534 885 881      1 2 3 4 5 6 (or 0..5 with 0 based indices)
-            faces, maps = MeshIO.merge_vertex_attribute_indices(pos_faces, normal_faces, uv_faces)
-
-            @test length(faces) == 3
-            @test faces == GLTriangleFace[(1, 2, 3), (4, 2, 5), (1, 3, 6)]
-
-            # maps are structured as map[new_index] = old_index, so they grab the
-            # first/second/third index of the unique combinations above
-            # maps = (pos_map, normal_map, uv_map)
-            @test maps[1] == [5, 6, 7, 5, 8, 8]
-            @test maps[2] == [5, 6, 7, 3, 8, 8]
-            @test maps[3] == [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 1]
+            # msh = load(joinpath(tf, "sphere5.gts"))
+            # @test typeof(msh) == GLNormalMesh
+            # test_face_indices(msh)
         end
     end
 end