diff --git a/examples/iris.ipynb b/examples/iris.ipynb
index 8cd021f3..c88f6a6b 100644
--- a/examples/iris.ipynb
+++ b/examples/iris.ipynb
@@ -2,15 +2,42 @@
  "cells": [
   {
    "cell_type": "code",
-   "execution_count": null,
+   "execution_count": 1,
    "metadata": {
     "collapsed": false
    },
-   "outputs": [],
+   "outputs": [
+    {
+     "name": "stderr",
+     "output_type": "stream",
+     "text": [
+      "WARNING: Base.String is deprecated, use AbstractString instead.\n",
+      "WARNING: Base.String is deprecated, use AbstractString instead.\n",
+      "WARNING: Base.String is deprecated, use AbstractString instead.\n",
+      "INFO: Recompiling stale cache file /Users/tom/.julia/lib/v0.4/Plots.ji for module Plots.\n"
+     ]
+    },
+    {
+     "name": "stdout",
+     "output_type": "stream",
+     "text": [
+      "[Plots.jl] Default backend: immerse"
+     ]
+    },
+    {
+     "name": "stderr",
+     "output_type": "stream",
+     "text": [
+      "WARNING: Base.None is deprecated, use Union{} instead.\n",
+      "WARNING: Base.None is deprecated, use Union{} instead.\n",
+      "WARNING: Base.None is deprecated, use Union{} instead.\n"
+     ]
+    }
+   ],
    "source": [
     "using RDatasets, Plots; dataframes!()\n",
     "iris = dataset(\"datasets\", \"iris\");\n",
-    "plotDefault!(:size, (600,400));"
+    "plotDefault!(size=(600,400));"
    ]
   },
   {
@@ -111,6 +138,85 @@
     "scatter([0,0],ms=40,m=:s)"
    ]
   },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": 3,
+   "metadata": {
+    "collapsed": false
+   },
+   "outputs": [
+    {
+     "name": "stdout",
+     "output_type": "stream",
+     "text": [
+      "ticks = ASCIIString[\"setosa\",\"versicolor\",\"virginica\"]"
+     ]
+    },
+    {
+     "ename": "MethodError",
+     "evalue": "MethodError: `isless` has no method matching isless(::ASCIIString, ::Float64)\nClosest candidates are:\n  isless(!Matched::Float64, ::Float64)\n  isless(!Matched::AbstractFloat, ::AbstractFloat)\n  isless(!Matched::Real, ::AbstractFloat)\n  ...",
+     "output_type": "error",
+     "traceback": [
+      "MethodError: `isless` has no method matching isless(::ASCIIString, ::Float64)\nClosest candidates are:\n  isless(!Matched::Float64, ::Float64)\n  isless(!Matched::AbstractFloat, ::AbstractFloat)\n  isless(!Matched::Real, ::AbstractFloat)\n  ...",
+      ""
+     ]
+    },
+    {
+     "name": "stdout",
+     "output_type": "stream",
+     "text": [
+      "\n"
+     ]
+    }
+   ],
+   "source": [
+    "bar(iris, :Species, :SepalLength)"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": null,
+   "metadata": {
+    "collapsed": false
+   },
+   "outputs": [],
+   "source": [
+    "bar(iris, :SepalLength, :Species)"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": null,
+   "metadata": {
+    "collapsed": false
+   },
+   "outputs": [],
+   "source": [
+    "findnext([1,2,1],1,4)"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": null,
+   "metadata": {
+    "collapsed": false
+   },
+   "outputs": [],
+   "source": [
+    "d = Dict(); get(d,:xticks,:auto)"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": null,
+   "metadata": {
+    "collapsed": false
+   },
+   "outputs": [],
+   "source": [
+    "issubtype(ASCIIString,ASCIIString)"
+   ]
+  },
   {
    "cell_type": "code",
    "execution_count": null,
@@ -123,7 +229,7 @@
  ],
  "metadata": {
   "kernelspec": {
-   "display_name": "Julia 0.4.0-rc1",
+   "display_name": "Julia 0.4.0-rc2",
    "language": "julia",
    "name": "julia-0.4"
   },
diff --git a/src/args.jl b/src/args.jl
index b31fb831..24138c36 100644
--- a/src/args.jl
+++ b/src/args.jl
@@ -120,8 +120,8 @@ _plotDefaults[:yrightlabel]       = ""
 _plotDefaults[:legend]            = true
 _plotDefaults[:background_color]  = colorant"white"
 _plotDefaults[:foreground_color]  = :auto
-_plotDefaults[:xlims]              = :auto
-_plotDefaults[:ylims]              = :auto
+_plotDefaults[:xlims]             = :auto
+_plotDefaults[:ylims]             = :auto
 _plotDefaults[:xticks]            = :auto
 _plotDefaults[:yticks]            = :auto
 _plotDefaults[:size]              = (800,600)
diff --git a/src/plot.jl b/src/plot.jl
index f36b24f2..4b68ad39 100644
--- a/src/plot.jl
+++ b/src/plot.jl
@@ -105,8 +105,13 @@ function plot!(plt::Plot, args...; kw...)
   # now we can plot the series
   for (i,di) in enumerate(kwList)
     plt.n += 1
+
+    setTicksFromStringVector(d, di, :x, :xticks)
+    setTicksFromStringVector(d, di, :y, :yticks)
+
     # println("Plotting: ", di)
     plot!(plt.plotter, plt; di...)
+
   end
 
   # add title, axis labels, ticks, etc
@@ -122,6 +127,19 @@ function plot!(plt::Plot, args...; kw...)
   plt
 end
 
+function setTicksFromStringVector(d::Dict, di::Dict, sym::Symbol, ticksym::Symbol)
+  # if the x or y values are strings, set ticks to the unique values, and x/y to the indices of the ticks
+  # @show get(d,ticksym,:auto) == :auto isa(di[sym], AbstractArray) isa(eltype(di[sym]), AbstractString)
+  # @show get(d,ticksym,:auto) eltype(di[sym])
+  if get(d,ticksym,:auto) == :auto && isa(di[sym], AbstractArray) && issubtype(eltype(di[sym]), AbstractString)
+    ticks = unique(di[sym])
+    @show ticks
+    di[sym] = Int[findnext(ticks, v, 1) for v in di[sym]]
+    d[ticksym] = ticks
+  end
+  # @show sym ticksym di[sym] d[ticksym]
+end
+
 preparePlotUpdate(plt::Plot) = nothing
 
 
@@ -155,6 +173,9 @@ convertToAnyVector(n::Integer; kw...) = Any[zero(0) for i in 1:n], nothing
 # numeric vector
 convertToAnyVector{T<:Real}(v::AVec{T}; kw...) = Any[v], nothing
 
+# string vector
+convertToAnyVector{T<:AbstractString}(v::AVec{T}; kw...) = Any[v], nothing
+
 # numeric matrix
 convertToAnyVector{T<:Real}(v::AMat{T}; kw...) = Any[v[:,i] for i in 1:size(v,2)], nothing
 
diff --git a/src/utils.jl b/src/utils.jl
index 37799a45..97a546fa 100644
--- a/src/utils.jl
+++ b/src/utils.jl
@@ -133,6 +133,7 @@ end
 
 # ticksType{T<:Real,S<:Real}(ticks::Tuple{T,S}) = :limits
 ticksType{T<:Real}(ticks::AVec{T}) = :ticks
+ticksType{T<:AbstractString}(ticks::AVec{T}) = :ticks
 ticksType(ticks) = :invalid
 
 limsType{T<:Real,S<:Real}(lims::Tuple{T,S}) = :limits