diff --git a/core/api.cfc b/core/api.cfc
index a8eec984..364cbfc1 100644
--- a/core/api.cfc
+++ b/core/api.cfc
@@ -282,7 +282,7 @@
 		<cfset local.defaultConfig.reloadKey = "reload" />
 		<cfset local.defaultConfig.reloadPassword = "true" />
 		<cfset local.defaultConfig.reloadOnEveryRequest = false />
-		<cfset local.defaultConfig.defaultRepresentationClass = "taffy.core.nativeJsonRepresentation" />
+		<cfset local.defaultConfig.representationClass = "taffy.core.nativeJsonRepresentation" />
 		<cfset local.defaultConfig.dashboardKey = "dashboard" />
 		<cfset local.defaultConfig.disableDashboard = false />
 		<cfset local.defaultConfig.unhandledPaths = "/flex2gateway" />
@@ -339,7 +339,7 @@
 			<cfset throwError(500, "You must either set an external bean factory or use the internal factory by creating a `/resources` folder.") />
 		</cfif>
 		<!--- automatically introspect mime types from cfc metadata of default representation class --->
-		<cfset inspectMimeTypes(application._taffy.settings.defaultRepresentationClass) />
+		<cfset inspectMimeTypes(application._taffy.settings.representationClass) />
 		<!--- check to make sure a default mime type is set --->
 		<cfif application._taffy.settings.defaultMime eq "">
 			<cfset throwError(400, "You have not specified a default mime type!") />
@@ -923,11 +923,11 @@
 
 	<cffunction name="setDefaultRepresentationClass" access="public" output="false" returnType="void" hint="Override the global default representation object with a custom class">
 		<cfargument name="customClassDotPath" type="string" required="true" hint="Dot-notation path to your custom class to use as the default" />
-		<cfset application._taffy.settings.defaultRepresentationClass = arguments.customClassDotPath />
+		<cfset application._taffy.settings.representationClass = arguments.customClassDotPath />
 	</cffunction>
 
 	<cffunction name="newRepresentation" access="public" output="false">
-		<cfargument name="class" type="string" default="#application._taffy.settings.defaultRepresentationClass#" />
+		<cfargument name="class" type="string" default="#application._taffy.settings.representationClass#" />
 		<cfif application._taffy.factory.containsBean(arguments.class)>
 			<cfreturn application._taffy.factory.getBean(arguments.class) />
 		<cfelse>
diff --git a/core/resource.cfc b/core/resource.cfc
index 9cf44e3e..90d9dc5d 100644
--- a/core/resource.cfc
+++ b/core/resource.cfc
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 	</cffunction>
 
 	<cffunction name="noData" access="private" output="false" hint="use this function to return only headers to the consumer, no data">
-		<cfreturn createObject("component", application._taffy.settings.defaultRepresentationClass).noData() />
+		<cfreturn createObject("component", application._taffy.settings.representationClass).noData() />
 	</cffunction>
 
 	<cffunction name="streamFile" access="private" output="false" hint="Use this function to specify a file name (eg c:\tmp\kitten.jpg) to be streamed to the client. When you use this method it is *required* that you also use .withMime() to specify the mime type.">
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@
 		<cfargument name="repClass" type="string" />
 		<cfif repClass eq "">
 			<!--- recursion not the most efficient path here, but it's damn readable --->
-			<cfreturn getRepInstance(application._taffy.settings.defaultRepresentationClass) />
+			<cfreturn getRepInstance(application._taffy.settings.representationClass) />
 		<cfelseif application._taffy.factory.containsBean(arguments.repClass)>
 			<cfreturn application._taffy.factory.getBean(arguments.repClass) />
 		<cfelse>
diff --git a/examples/api/Application.cfc b/examples/api/Application.cfc
index 821c8955..48d046f7 100644
--- a/examples/api/Application.cfc
+++ b/examples/api/Application.cfc
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 		variables.framework.debugKey = "debug";
 		variables.framework.reloadKey = "reload";
 		variables.framework.reloadPassword = "true";
-		variables.framework.defaultRepresentationClass = "taffy.core.genericRepresentation";
+		variables.framework.representationClass = "taffy.core.genericRepresentation";
 		variables.framework.returnExceptionsAsJson = true;
 
 		// do your onApplicationStart stuff here
diff --git a/examples/api_anythingtoxml/Application.cfc b/examples/api_anythingtoxml/Application.cfc
index ac7c8d30..f91e6c9c 100644
--- a/examples/api_anythingtoxml/Application.cfc
+++ b/examples/api_anythingtoxml/Application.cfc
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 		this.name = hash(getCurrentTemplatePath());
 
 		variables.framework = {};
-		variables.framework.defaultRepresentationClass = "taffy.bonus.AnythingToXmlRepresentation";
+		variables.framework.representationClass = "taffy.bonus.AnythingToXmlRepresentation";
 
 		function applicationStartEvent(){
 			application.anythingToXml = createObject("component", "anythingtoxml.AnythingToXML").init();
diff --git a/examples/api_coldspring/Application.cfc b/examples/api_coldspring/Application.cfc
index 134cb56e..8befe6d9 100644
--- a/examples/api_coldspring/Application.cfc
+++ b/examples/api_coldspring/Application.cfc
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 		variables.framework.debugKey = "debug";
 		variables.framework.reloadKey = "reload";
 		variables.framework.reloadPassword = "true";
-		variables.framework.defaultRepresentationClass = "taffy.core.nativeJsonRepresentation";
+		variables.framework.representationClass = "taffy.core.nativeJsonRepresentation";
 
 		//do your onApplicationStart stuff here
 		function applicationStartEvent(){
diff --git a/examples/api_configVar/Application.cfc b/examples/api_configVar/Application.cfc
index 813da28c..3868790c 100644
--- a/examples/api_configVar/Application.cfc
+++ b/examples/api_configVar/Application.cfc
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 		variables.framework.debugKey = "debug";
 		variables.framework.reloadKey = "reload";
 		variables.framework.reloadPassword = "true";
-		variables.framework.defaultRepresentationClass = "taffy.core.nativeJsonRepresentation";
+		variables.framework.representationClass = "taffy.core.nativeJsonRepresentation";
 		variables.framework.dashboardKey = "dashboard";
 		variables.framework.disableDashboard = false;
 		variables.framework.unhandledPaths = "/flex2gateway";
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@
 				debugKey = "debug",
 				reloadKey = "reload",
 				reloadPassword = "true",
-				defaultRepresentationClass = "taffy.core.nativeJsonRepresentation",
+				representationClass = "taffy.core.nativeJsonRepresentation",
 				dashboardKey = "dashboard",
 				disableDashboard = false,
 				unhandledPaths = "/flex2gateway",
diff --git a/examples/api_img/Application.cfc b/examples/api_img/Application.cfc
index 57e2c80e..689796dc 100644
--- a/examples/api_img/Application.cfc
+++ b/examples/api_img/Application.cfc
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 		variables.framework.debugKey = "debug";
 		variables.framework.reloadKey = "reload";
 		variables.framework.reloadPassword = "true";
-		variables.framework.defaultRepresentationClass = "taffy.core.nativeJsonRepresentation";
+		variables.framework.representationClass = "taffy.core.nativeJsonRepresentation";
 
 		// do your onApplicationStart stuff here
 		function applicationStartEvent(){
diff --git a/examples/api_jsonutil/Application.cfc b/examples/api_jsonutil/Application.cfc
index 88e07a76..b06982d1 100644
--- a/examples/api_jsonutil/Application.cfc
+++ b/examples/api_jsonutil/Application.cfc
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 		this.name = hash(getCurrentTemplatePath());
 
 		variables.framework = {};
-		variables.framework.defaultRepresentationClass = "JsonUtilRepresentation";
+		variables.framework.representationClass = "JsonUtilRepresentation";
 
 	</cfscript>
 </cfcomponent>
diff --git a/examples/api_twoFormats/Application.cfc b/examples/api_twoFormats/Application.cfc
index 89622767..9fecd4e9 100644
--- a/examples/api_twoFormats/Application.cfc
+++ b/examples/api_twoFormats/Application.cfc
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 		this.name = hash(getCurrentTemplatePath());
 
 		variables.framework = {};
-		variables.framework.defaultRepresentationClass = "resources.CustomRepresentationClass";
+		variables.framework.representationClass = "resources.CustomRepresentationClass";
 
 		function applicationStartEvent(){
 			application.JsonUtil = createObject("component", "resources.JSONUtil.JSONUtil");
diff --git a/examples/coldspring_aop/Application.cfc b/examples/coldspring_aop/Application.cfc
index 56e26be4..3d4b71aa 100644
--- a/examples/coldspring_aop/Application.cfc
+++ b/examples/coldspring_aop/Application.cfc
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 		variables.framework.debugKey = "debug";
 		variables.framework.reloadKey = "reload";
 		variables.framework.reloadPassword = "true";
-		variables.framework.defaultRepresentationClass = "taffy.core.genericRepresentation";
+		variables.framework.representationClass = "taffy.core.genericRepresentation";
 
 		// do your onApplicationStart stuff here
 		function applicationStartEvent(){
diff --git a/tests/Application.cfc b/tests/Application.cfc
index 82c50af6..63c6651b 100644
--- a/tests/Application.cfc
+++ b/tests/Application.cfc
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 		variables.framework.disableDashboard = false;
 		variables.framework.reloadKey = "reload";
 		variables.framework.unhandledPaths = "/Taffy/tests/someFolder,/Taffy/tests/tests,/tests/someFolder,/tests/tests";
-		variables.framework.defaultRepresentationClass = "customJsonRepresentation";
+		variables.framework.representationClass = "customJsonRepresentation";
 		variables.framework.globalHeaders = {};
 		variables.framework.globalHeaders["x-foo-globalheader"] = "snafu";