diff --git a/src/Plots.jl b/src/Plots.jl
index 74c5bf57..a7b6af20 100644
--- a/src/Plots.jl
+++ b/src/Plots.jl
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@ const IMG_DIR = Pkg.dir("Plots") * "/img/"
 
 include("types.jl")
 include("utils.jl")
+include("colors.jl")
 include("plotter.jl")
 include("args.jl")
 include("plot.jl")
diff --git a/src/args.jl b/src/args.jl
index 181de769..c0222eb5 100644
--- a/src/args.jl
+++ b/src/args.jl
@@ -134,6 +134,10 @@ const keyAliases = Dict(
     :bgcolor => :background_color,
     :bg_color => :background_color,
     :background => :background_color,
+    :fg => :foreground_color,
+    :fgcolor => :foreground_color,
+    :fg_color => :foreground_color,
+    :foreground => :foreground_color,
     :windowsize => :size,
     :wsize => :size,
     :wtitle => :windowtitle,
@@ -182,65 +186,6 @@ end
 
 # -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-convertColor(c::Union{AbstractString, Symbol}) = parse(Colorant, string(c))
-convertColor(c::Colorant) = c
-convertColor(cvec::AbstractVector) = map(convertColor, cvec)
-
-isbackgrounddark(bgcolor::Color) = Lab(bgcolor).l < 0.5
-
-# move closer to lighter/darker depending on background value
-function adjustAway(val, bgval, vmin=0., vmax=100.)
-  if bgval < 0.5 * (vmax+vmin)
-    tmp = max(val, bgval)
-    return 0.5 * (tmp + max(tmp, vmax))
-  else
-    tmp = min(val, bgval)
-    return 0.5 * (tmp + min(tmp, vmin))
-  end
-end
-
-function getBackgroundRGBColor(c, d::Dict)
-  bgcolor = convertColor(d[:background_color])
-  d[:background_color] = bgcolor
-  palette = distinguishable_colors(20, bgcolor)[2:end]
-
-  # # try to adjust lightness away from background color
-  # bg_lab = Lab(bgcolor)
-  # palette = RGB{Float64}[begin
-  #   lab = Lab(rgb)
-  #   Lab(
-  #       adjustAway(lab.l, bg_lab.l, 25, 75),
-  #       lab.a,
-  #       lab.b
-  #     )
-  # end for rgb in palette]
-  d[:color_palette] = palette
-
-  # set the foreground color (text, ticks, gridlines) to be white or black depending
-  # on how dark the background is.  borrowed from http://stackoverflow.com/a/1855903
-  a = 0.299 * red(bgcolor) + 0.587 * green(bgcolor) + 0.114 * blue(bgcolor)
-  d[:foreground_color] = a < 0.5 ? colorant"white" : colorant"black"
-
-  bgcolor
-end
-
-# converts a symbol or string into a colorant (Colors.RGB), and assigns a color automatically
-function getSeriesRGBColor(c, d::Dict, n::Int)
-
-  if c == :auto
-    c = autopick(d[:color_palette], n)
-  else
-    c = convertColor(c)
-  end
-
-  # should be a RGB now... either it was passed in, generated automatically, or created from a string
-  # @assert isa(c, RGB)
-  @assert isa(c, Colorant)
-
-  # return the RGB
-  c
-end
-
 
 
 function warnOnUnsupported(pkg::PlottingPackage, d::Dict)
@@ -280,7 +225,7 @@ end
 
 
 # note: idx is the index of this series within this call, n is the index of the series from all calls to plot/subplot
-function getSeriesArgs(pkg::PlottingPackage, initargs::Dict, kw, idx::Int, n::Int)  # TODO, pass in initargs, not plt
+function getSeriesArgs(pkg::PlottingPackage, initargs::Dict, kw, commandIndex::Int, plotIndex::Int, globalIndex::Int)  # TODO, pass in initargs, not plt
   d = Dict(kw)
 
   # add defaults?
@@ -289,7 +234,7 @@ function getSeriesArgs(pkg::PlottingPackage, initargs::Dict, kw, idx::Int, n::In
       v = d[k]
       if isa(v, AbstractVector) && !isempty(v)
         # we got a vector, cycling through
-        d[k] = autopick(v, idx)
+        d[k] = autopick(v, commandIndex)
       end
     else
       d[k] = _seriesDefaults[k]
@@ -298,26 +243,26 @@ function getSeriesArgs(pkg::PlottingPackage, initargs::Dict, kw, idx::Int, n::In
 
   # auto-pick
   if d[:axis] == :auto
-    d[:axis] = autopick_ignore_none_auto(supportedAxes(pkg), n)
+    d[:axis] = autopick_ignore_none_auto(supportedAxes(pkg), plotIndex)
   end
   if d[:linestyle] == :auto
-    d[:linestyle] = autopick_ignore_none_auto(supportedStyles(pkg), n)
+    d[:linestyle] = autopick_ignore_none_auto(supportedStyles(pkg), plotIndex)
   end
   if d[:marker] == :auto
-    d[:marker] = autopick_ignore_none_auto(supportedMarkers(pkg), n)
+    d[:marker] = autopick_ignore_none_auto(supportedMarkers(pkg), plotIndex)
   end
 
   # update color
-  d[:color] = getSeriesRGBColor(d[:color], initargs, n)
+  d[:color] = getSeriesRGBColor(d[:color], initargs, plotIndex)
 
   # update markercolor
   mc = d[:markercolor]
-  mc = (mc == :match ? d[:color] : getSeriesRGBColor(mc, initargs, n))
+  mc = (mc == :match ? d[:color] : getSeriesRGBColor(mc, initargs, plotIndex))
   d[:markercolor] = mc
 
   # set label
   label = d[:label]
-  label = (label == "AUTO" ? "y$n" : label)
+  label = (label == "AUTO" ? "y$globalIndex" : label)
   if d[:axis] == :right && length(label) >= 4 && label[end-3:end] != " (R)"
     label = string(label, " (R)")
   end
diff --git a/src/colors.jl b/src/colors.jl
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..15e22d7c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/colors.jl
@@ -0,0 +1,173 @@
+
+# note: I found this list of hex values in a comment by Tatarize here: http://stackoverflow.com/a/12224359
+const _masterColorList = [
+  0xFFFFFF,
+  0x000000,
+  0x0000FF,
+  0x00FF00,
+  0xFF0000,
+  0x01FFFE,
+  0xFFA6FE,
+  0xFFDB66,
+  0x006401,
+  0x010067,
+  0x95003A,
+  0x007DB5,
+  0xFF00F6,
+  0xFFEEE8,
+  0x774D00,
+  0x90FB92,
+  0x0076FF,
+  0xD5FF00,
+  0xFF937E,
+  0x6A826C,
+  0xFF029D,
+  0xFE8900,
+  0x7A4782,
+  0x7E2DD2,
+  0x85A900,
+  0xFF0056,
+  0xA42400,
+  0x00AE7E,
+  0x683D3B,
+  0xBDC6FF,
+  0x263400,
+  0xBDD393,
+  0x00B917,
+  0x9E008E,
+  0x001544,
+  0xC28C9F,
+  0xFF74A3,
+  0x01D0FF,
+  0x004754,
+  0xE56FFE,
+  0x788231,
+  0x0E4CA1,
+  0x91D0CB,
+  0xBE9970,
+  0x968AE8,
+  0xBB8800,
+  0x43002C,
+  0xDEFF74,
+  0x00FFC6,
+  0xFFE502,
+  0x620E00,
+  0x008F9C,
+  0x98FF52,
+  0x7544B1,
+  0xB500FF,
+  0x00FF78,
+  0xFF6E41,
+  0x005F39,
+  0x6B6882,
+  0x5FAD4E,
+  0xA75740,
+  0xA5FFD2,
+  0xFFB167,
+  0x009BFF,
+  0xE85EBE,
+]
+
+
+
+
+convertColor(c::Union{AbstractString, Symbol}) = parse(Colorant, string(c))
+convertColor(c::Colorant) = c
+convertColor(cvec::AbstractVector) = map(convertColor, cvec)
+
+isbackgrounddark(bgcolor::Color) = Lab(bgcolor).l < 0.5
+
+# move closer to lighter/darker depending on background value
+function adjustAway(val, bgval, vmin=0., vmax=100.)
+  if bgval < 0.5 * (vmax+vmin)
+    tmp = max(val, bgval)
+    return 0.5 * (tmp + max(tmp, vmax))
+  else
+    tmp = min(val, bgval)
+    return 0.5 * (tmp + min(tmp, vmin))
+  end
+end
+
+lightnessLevel(c::Colorant) = 0.299 * red(c) + 0.587 * green(c) + 0.114 * blue(c)
+isdark(c::Colorant) = lightnessLevel(c) < 0.5
+islight(c::Colorant) = !isdark(c)
+
+function convertHexToRGB(h::Unsigned)
+  mask = 0x0000FF
+  RGB([(x & mask) / 0xFF for x in  (h >> 16, h >> 8, h)]...)
+end
+
+const _allColors = map(convertHexToRGB, _masterColorList)
+const _darkColors = filter(isdark, _allColors)
+const _lightColors = filter(islight, _allColors)
+const _sortedColorsForDarkBackground = vcat(_lightColors, reverse(_darkColors[2:end]))
+const _sortedColorsForLightBackground = vcat(_darkColors, reverse(_lightColors[2:end]))
+
+const _defaultNumColors = 20
+
+function getPaletteUsingDistinguishableColors(bgcolor::Colorant, numcolors::Int = _defaultNumColors)
+  palette = distinguishable_colors(numcolors, bgcolor)[2:end]
+
+  # try to adjust lightness away from background color
+  bg_lab = Lab(bgcolor)
+  palette = RGB{Float64}[begin
+    lab = Lab(rgb)
+    Lab(
+        adjustAway(lab.l, bg_lab.l, 25, 75),
+        lab.a,
+        lab.b
+      )
+  end for rgb in palette]
+end
+
+function getPaletteUsingFixedColorList(bgcolor::Colorant, numcolors::Int = _defaultNumColors)
+  palette = isdark(bgcolor) ? _sortedColorsForDarkBackground : _sortedColorsForLightBackground
+  palette[1:min(numcolors,length(palette))]
+end
+
+function getPaletteUsingColorDiffFromBackground(bgcolor::Colorant, numcolors::Int = _defaultNumColors)
+  colordiffs = [colordiff(c, bgcolor) for c in _allColors]
+  mindiff = colordiffs[reverse(sortperm(colordiffs))[numcolors]]
+  @show bgcolor numcolors mindiff colordiffs
+  # filter(c -> colordiff(c, bgcolor) > 0.5, _allColors)
+  filter(c -> colordiff(c, bgcolor) >= mindiff, _allColors)
+end
+
+# TODO: try to use the algorithms from https://github.com/timothyrenner/ColorBrewer.jl
+# TODO: allow the setting of the algorithm, either by passing a symbol (:colordiff, :fixed, etc) or a function? 
+
+function getBackgroundRGBColor(c, d::Dict)
+  bgcolor = convertColor(d[:background_color])
+  d[:background_color] = bgcolor
+
+  # d[:color_palette] = getPaletteUsingDistinguishableColors(bgcolor)
+  # d[:color_palette] = getPaletteUsingFixedColorList(bgcolor)
+  d[:color_palette] = getPaletteUsingColorDiffFromBackground(bgcolor)
+  @show d[:color_palette]
+
+  # set the foreground color (text, ticks, gridlines) to be white or black depending
+  # on how dark the background is.  borrowed from http://stackoverflow.com/a/1855903
+  # a = 0.299 * red(bgcolor) + 0.587 * green(bgcolor) + 0.114 * blue(bgcolor)
+  if !haskey(d, :foreground_color) || d[:foreground_color] == :auto
+    d[:foreground_color] = isdark(bgcolor) ? colorant"white" : colorant"black"
+  end
+
+  bgcolor
+end
+
+# converts a symbol or string into a colorant (Colors.RGB), and assigns a color automatically
+function getSeriesRGBColor(c, d::Dict, n::Int)
+
+  if c == :auto
+    c = autopick(d[:color_palette], n)
+  else
+    c = convertColor(c)
+  end
+
+  # should be a RGB now... either it was passed in, generated automatically, or created from a string
+  # @assert isa(c, RGB)
+  @assert isa(c, Colorant)
+
+  # return the RGB
+  c
+end
diff --git a/src/plot.jl b/src/plot.jl
index add2ad43..99b109ec 100644
--- a/src/plot.jl
+++ b/src/plot.jl
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ Base.show(io::IO, plt::Plot) = print(io, string(plt))
 
 getplot(plt::Plot) = plt
 getinitargs(plt::Plot, idx::Int = 1) = plt.initargs
+convertSeriesIndex(plt::Plot, n::Int) = n
 
 
 doc"""
@@ -132,7 +133,7 @@ function plot!(plt::Plot, args...; kw...)
   # Ideally we don't change the insides ot createKWargsList too much to 
   # save from code repetition.  We could consider adding a throw
 
-  kwList = createKWargsList2(plt, args...; d...)
+  kwList = createKWargsList(plt, args...; d...)
   for (i,d) in enumerate(kwList)
     plt.n += 1
     plot!(plt.plotter, plt; d...)
@@ -213,14 +214,15 @@ end
 
 # create n=max(mx,my) series arguments. the shorter list is cycled through
 # note: everything should flow through this
-function createKWargsList2(plt::PlottingObject, x, y; kw...)
+function createKWargsList(plt::PlottingObject, x, y; kw...)
   xs = convertToAnyVector(x)
   ys = convertToAnyVector(y)
   mx = length(xs)
   my = length(ys)
   ret = []
   for i in 1:max(mx, my)
-    d = getSeriesArgs(plt.plotter, getinitargs(plt, plt.n+i), kw, i, plt.n+i)
+    n = plt.n + i
+    d = getSeriesArgs(plt.plotter, getinitargs(plt, n), kw, i, convertSeriesIndex(plt, n), n)
     d[:x], d[:y] = computeXandY(xs[mod1(i,mx)], ys[mod1(i,my)])
     push!(ret, d)
   end
@@ -228,46 +230,46 @@ function createKWargsList2(plt::PlottingObject, x, y; kw...)
 end
 
 # pass it off to the x/y version
-function createKWargsList2(plt::PlottingObject, y; kw...)
-  createKWargsList2(plt, nothing, y; kw...)
+function createKWargsList(plt::PlottingObject, y; kw...)
+  createKWargsList(plt, nothing, y; kw...)
 end
 
-function createKWargsList2(plt::PlottingObject, f::FuncOrFuncs; kw...)
+function createKWargsList(plt::PlottingObject, f::FuncOrFuncs; kw...)
   error("Can't pass a Function or Vector{Function} for y without also passing x")
 end
 
-function createKWargsList2(plt::PlottingObject, f::FuncOrFuncs, x; kw...)
+function createKWargsList(plt::PlottingObject, f::FuncOrFuncs, x; kw...)
   @assert !(x <: FuncOrFuncs)  # otherwise we'd hit infinite recursion here
-  createKWargsList2(plt, x, f; kw...)
+  createKWargsList(plt, x, f; kw...)
 end
 
 # special handling... xmin/xmax with function(s)
-function createKWargsList2(plt::PlottingObject, f::FuncOrFuncs, xmin::Real, xmax::Real; kw...)
+function createKWargsList(plt::PlottingObject, f::FuncOrFuncs, xmin::Real, xmax::Real; kw...)
   width = plt.initargs[:size][1]
   x = collect(linspace(xmin, xmax, width))  # we don't need more than the width
-  createKWargsList2(plt, x, f; kw...)
+  createKWargsList(plt, x, f; kw...)
 end
 
 mapFuncOrFuncs(f::Function, u::AVec) = map(f, u)
 mapFuncOrFuncs(fs::AVec{Function}, u::AVec) = [map(f, u) for f in fs]
 
 # special handling... xmin/xmax with parametric function(s)
-function createKWargsList2(plt::PlottingObject, fx::FuncOrFuncs, fy::FuncOrFuncs, umin::Real, umax::Real, numPoints::Int = 1000000; kw...)
+function createKWargsList(plt::PlottingObject, fx::FuncOrFuncs, fy::FuncOrFuncs, umin::Real, umax::Real, numPoints::Int = 1000000; kw...)
   u = collect(linspace(umin, umax, numPoints))
-  createKWargsList2(plt, mapFuncOrFuncs(fx, u), mapFuncOrFuncs(fy, u); kw...)
+  createKWargsList(plt, mapFuncOrFuncs(fx, u), mapFuncOrFuncs(fy, u); kw...)
 end
 
 
 # special handling... no args... 1 series
-function createKWargsList2(plt::PlottingObject; kw...)
+function createKWargsList(plt::PlottingObject; kw...)
   d = Dict(kw)
   if !haskey(d, :y)
     error("Called plot/subplot without args... must set y in the keyword args.  Example: plot(; y=rand(10))")
   end
   if haskey(d, :x)
-    return createKWargsList2(plt, d[:x], d[:y]; kw...)
+    return createKWargsList(plt, d[:x], d[:y]; kw...)
   else
-    return createKWargsList2(plt, d[:y]; kw...)
+    return createKWargsList(plt, d[:y]; kw...)
   end
 end
 
diff --git a/src/subplot.jl b/src/subplot.jl
index 79794fee..9ca179a3 100644
--- a/src/subplot.jl
+++ b/src/subplot.jl
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ Base.show(io::IO, subplt::Subplot) = print(io, string(subplt))
 
 getplot(subplt::Subplot, idx::Int = subplt.n) = subplt.plts[mod1(idx, subplt.p)]
 getinitargs(subplt::Subplot, idx::Int) = getplot(subplt, idx).initargs
+convertSeriesIndex(subplt::Subplot, n::Int) = ceil(Int, n / subplt.p)
 
 # ------------------------------------------------------------