diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index 567bd68..7b19aab 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ Package: afex
 Type: Package
 Title: Analysis of Factorial Experiments
 Depends: R (>= 3.1.0), lme4 (>= 1.1-8), lsmeans (>= 2.17)
-Suggests: ascii, xtable, parallel, plyr, optimx, nloptr, knitr, rmarkdown, lattice,
+Suggests: xtable, parallel, plyr, optimx, nloptr, knitr, rmarkdown, lattice,
          latticeExtra, multcomp, testthat, mlmRev, dplyr, tidyr, dfoptim, Matrix
 Imports: stringr, coin, pbkrtest (>= 0.4-1), lmerTest, car, reshape2, stats, methods
 Description: Provides convenience functions for analyzing factorial experiments using
@@ -28,6 +28,6 @@ Authors@R: c(person(given="Henrik", family="Singmann", role=c("aut", "cre"),
          role=c("ctb")), person(given="Michael A.", family="Lawrence", role=c("ctb")),
          person(given="Ulf", family="Mertens", role=c("ctb")),
          person(given="Jonathan", family="Love", role=c("ctb")) )
-Version: 0.17-5
-Date: 2017-04-03
+Version: 0.17-6
+Date: 2017-04-06
 RoxygenNote: 6.0.1
diff --git a/NAMESPACE b/NAMESPACE
index 3fb31d7..025490f 100644
--- a/NAMESPACE
+++ b/NAMESPACE
@@ -69,6 +69,7 @@ importFrom(stats,model.matrix)
 importFrom(stats,optim)
 importFrom(stats,p.adjust)
 importFrom(stats,setNames)
+importFrom(stats,symnum)
 importFrom(stats,t.test)
 importFrom(stats,terms)
 importFrom(stats,update)
diff --git a/R/afex-package.R b/R/afex-package.R
index 8a8f485..78f3661 100644
--- a/R/afex-package.R
+++ b/R/afex-package.R
@@ -3,8 +3,8 @@
 #' \tabular{ll}{
 #' Package: \tab afex\cr
 #' Type: \tab Package\cr
-#' Version: \tab 0.17-5\cr
-#' Date: \tab 2017-04-03\cr
+#' Version: \tab 0.17-6\cr
+#' Date: \tab 2017-04-06\cr
 #' Depends: \tab R (>= 3.1.0), lme4 (>= 1.1-8), lsmeans (>= 2.17)\cr
 #' Encoding: \tab UTF-8\cr
 #' License: \tab GPL (>=2)\cr
diff --git a/R/helpers.R b/R/helpers.R
index ede16c1..8a5f64b 100644
--- a/R/helpers.R
+++ b/R/helpers.R
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 #' \item \code{es_aov}: Effect size reported for ANOVAs (see \code{\link{aov_car}}), default is \code{"ges"} (generalized eta-squared).
 #' \item \code{correction_aov}: Correction used for within-subjects factors with more than two levels for ANOVAs  (see \code{\link{aov_car}} or \code{\link{nice}}), default is \code{"GG"} (Greenhouse-Geisser correction). (ANOVA functions only)
 #' \item \code{factorize}: Should between subject factors be factorized (with note) before running the analysis? Default is \code{TRUE}. (ANOVA functions only)
+#' \item \code{sig_symbols}: Default significant symbols used for ANOVA and \code{mixed} printing. Default is\code{c(" +", " *", " **", " ***")}.
 #' \item \code{lmer_function}: Which \code{lmer} function should \code{mixed} or \code{lmer_alt} use. The default is \code{"lmerTest"} which uses \code{\link[lmerTest]{lmer}}, \code{"lme4"} is also possible which uses \code{\link[lme4]{lmer}}. There should be no difference between the two. The latter could be minimally faster, but does not allow to use \code{lmerTest::anova()}.
 #' }
 #' 
diff --git a/R/methods.afex_aov.R b/R/methods.afex_aov.R
index 286da96..622fb5c 100644
--- a/R/methods.afex_aov.R
+++ b/R/methods.afex_aov.R
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
 #' \code{p_adjust_method} defaults to the method specified in the call to \code{\link{aov_car}} in \code{anova_table}. If no method was specified and \code{p_adjust_method = NULL} p-values are not adjusted.
 #' 
 #' @references 
-#' Cramer, A. O. J., van Ravenzwaaij, D., Matzke, D., Steingroever, H., Wetzels, R., Grasman, R. P. P. P., ... Wagenmakers, E.-J. (2015). Hidden multiplicity in exploratory multiway ANOVA: Prevalence and remedies.  \emph{Psychonomic Bulletin & Review}, 1–8. doi:\href{http://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-015-0913-5}{10.3758/s13423-015-0913-5}
+#' Cramer, A. O. J., van Ravenzwaaij, D., Matzke, D., Steingroever, H., Wetzels, R., Grasman, R. P. P. P., ... Wagenmakers, E.-J. (2015). Hidden multiplicity in exploratory multiway ANOVA: Prevalence and remedies.  \emph{Psychonomic Bulletin & Review}, 1-8. doi:\href{http://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-015-0913-5}{10.3758/s13423-015-0913-5}
 #' 
 #' @name afex_aov-methods
 #' @importFrom stats p.adjust
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ NULL
 #' @inheritParams nice
 #' @method anova afex_aov
 #' @export
-anova.afex_aov <- function(object, es = afex_options("es_aov"), observed = NULL, correction = afex_options("correction_aov"), MSE = TRUE, intercept = FALSE, p_adjust_method = NULL, ...) {
+anova.afex_aov <- function(object, es = afex_options("es_aov"), observed = NULL, correction = afex_options("correction_aov"), MSE = TRUE, intercept = FALSE, p_adjust_method = NULL, sig_symbols = afex_options("sig_symbols"), ...) {
   # internal functions:
   # check arguments
   dots <- list(...)
@@ -113,18 +113,19 @@ anova.afex_aov <- function(object, es = afex_options("es_aov"), observed = NULL,
   attr(anova_table, "es") <- es
   attr(anova_table, "correction") <- if(length(attr(object, "within")) > 0 && any(vapply(object$data$long[, attr(object, "within"), drop = FALSE], nlevels, 0) > 2)) correction else "none"
   attr(anova_table, "observed") <- if(!is.null(observed) & length(observed) > 0) observed else character(0)
-  attr(anova_table, "sig_symbols") <- if(!is.null(dots$sig_symbols)) dots$sig_symbols else afex_options("sig_symbols")
+  attr(anova_table, "sig_symbols") <- if(!is.null(sig_symbols)) sig_symbols else afex_options("sig_symbols")
   anova_table
 }
 
 #' @rdname afex_aov-methods
 #' @method print afex_aov 
+#' @importFrom stats symnum
 #' @export
 print.afex_aov <- function(x, ...) {
   out <- nice(x$anova_table, ...)
   print(out)
-  
-  sleg <- paste(paste(c(0, 0.001, 0.01, 0.05, 0.1), rev(paste0("‘", c(" ", gsub(" ", "", attr(x$anova_table, "sig_symbols"))), "’")), collapse = " "), 1)
+  sleg <- attr(symnum(0, cutpoints = c(0, 0.001, 0.01, 0.05, 0.1, 1), 
+         symbols = rev(c(" " ,stringr::str_trim(attr(x$anova_table, "sig_symbols"))))), "legend")
   width <- getOption("width")
   
   if(width < nchar(sleg)) {
diff --git a/R/nice.R b/R/nice.R
index 9d61019..5dae041 100644
--- a/R/nice.R
+++ b/R/nice.R
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 #' @param observed character vector referring to the observed (i.e., non manipulated) variables/effects in the design. Important for calculation of generalized eta-squared (ignored if \code{es} is not \code{"ges"}), see details.
 #' @param correction Character. Which sphericity correction of the degrees of freedom should be reported for the within-subject factors.  The default is given by \code{afex_options("correction_aov")}, which is initially set to \code{"GG"} corresponding to the Greenhouse-Geisser correction. Possible values are \code{"GG"}, \code{"HF"} (i.e., Hyunh-Feldt correction), and \code{"none"} (i.e., no correction).
 #' @param p_adjust_method \code{character} indicating if p-values for individual effects should be adjusted for multiple comparisons (see \link[stats]{p.adjust} and details). The default \code{NULL} corresponds to no adjustment.
-#' @param sig_symbols Character. What should be the symbols designating significance? When entering an vector with \code{length(sig.symbol) < 4} only those elements of the default (\code{c(" +", " *", " **", " ***")}) will be replaced. \code{sig_symbols = ""} will display the stars but not the \code{+}, \code{sig_symbols = rep("", 4)} will display no symbols.
+#' @param sig_symbols Character. What should be the symbols designating significance? When entering an vector with \code{length(sig.symbol) < 4} only those elements of the default (\code{c(" +", " *", " **", " ***")}) will be replaced. \code{sig_symbols = ""} will display the stars but not the \code{+}, \code{sig_symbols = rep("", 4)} will display no symbols. The default is given by \code{afex_options("sig_symbols")}.
 #' @param MSE logical. Should the column containing the Mean Sqaured Error (MSE) be displayed? Default is \code{TRUE}.
 #' @param intercept logical. Should intercept (if present) be included in the ANOVA table? Default is \code{FALSE} which hides the intercept.
 #' @param sig.symbols deprecated argument, only for backwards compatibility, use \code{"sig_symbols"} instead.
@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@ is.wholenumber <- function(x, tol = .Machine$double.eps^0.5)  abs(x - round(x))
 #' @rdname nice
 #' @method nice mixed
 #' @export
-nice.mixed <- function(object, sig_symbols = c(" +", " *", " **", " ***"), ...) {
+nice.mixed <- function(object, sig_symbols = afex_options("sig_symbols"), ...) {
   anova_table <- object$anova_table
   dots <- list(...)
   if("sig.symbols" %in% names(dots)) {  #(!missing(sig.symbols)) {
diff --git a/dev.R b/dev.R
index 5aa22c5..ea8fd4a 100644
--- a/dev.R
+++ b/dev.R
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ R.libs <- "./packages/library"
 closeAllConnections()
 roxy.package(
 	pck.source.dir = pkg.src.dir,
-	pck.version = "0.17-5",
+	pck.version = "0.17-6",
 	pck.description = data.frame(
 		Package = "afex",
 		Type = "Package",
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ roxy.package(
         person(given=\"Jonathan\", family=\"Love\", role=c(\"ctb\"))
     )",
 		Depends = "R (>= 3.1.0), lme4 (>= 1.1-8), lsmeans (>= 2.17)",
-		Suggests = "ascii, xtable, parallel, plyr, optimx, nloptr, knitr, rmarkdown, lattice, latticeExtra, multcomp, testthat, mlmRev, dplyr, tidyr, dfoptim, Matrix",
+		Suggests = "xtable, parallel, plyr, optimx, nloptr, knitr, rmarkdown, lattice, latticeExtra, multcomp, testthat, mlmRev, dplyr, tidyr, dfoptim, Matrix",
 		Imports = "stringr, coin, pbkrtest (>= 0.4-1), lmerTest, car, reshape2, stats, methods",
 		Description = "Provides convenience functions for analyzing factorial experiments using ANOVA or mixed models. aov_ez(), aov_car(), and aov_4() allow specification of between, within (i.e., repeated-measures), or mixed between-within (i.e., split-plot) ANOVAs for data in long format (i.e., one observation per row), potentially aggregating multiple observations per individual and cell of the design. mixed() fits mixed models using lme4::lmer() and computes p-values for all fixed effects using either Kenward-Roger or Satterthwaite approximation for degrees of freedom (LMM only), parametric bootstrap (LMMs and GLMMs), or likelihood ratio tests (LMMs and GLMMs). afex uses type 3 sums of squares as default (imitating commercial statistical software).",
 		URL = "http://afex.singmann.science/, https://github.com/singmann/afex",
diff --git a/examples/examples.nice.R b/examples/examples.nice.R
index be79af4..1b83728 100644
--- a/examples/examples.nice.R
+++ b/examples/examples.nice.R
@@ -4,7 +4,9 @@
 data(md_12.1)
 # create object of class afex_aov:
 rmd <- aov_ez("id", "rt", md_12.1, within = c("angle", "noise"))
+rmd
 nice(rmd)
+str(nice(rmd))
 # use different es:
 nice(rmd, es = "pes") # noise: .82
 nice(rmd, es = "ges") # noise: .39
@@ -23,7 +25,7 @@ tmp.aov <- aov_car(value ~ treatment * gender + Error(id/phase*hour), data = obk
 
 nice(tmp.aov, observed = "gender")
 
-nice(tmp.aov, observed = "gender", sig.symbols = rep("", 4))
+nice(tmp.aov, observed = "gender", sig_symbols = rep("", 4))
 
 \dontrun{
 # use package ascii or xtable for formatting of tables ready for printing.
diff --git a/man/afex-package.Rd b/man/afex-package.Rd
index d538f12..07b6a61 100644
--- a/man/afex-package.Rd
+++ b/man/afex-package.Rd
@@ -11,8 +11,8 @@ Analysis of Factorial Experiments.
 \tabular{ll}{
 Package: \tab afex\cr
 Type: \tab Package\cr
-Version: \tab 0.17-5\cr
-Date: \tab 2017-04-03\cr
+Version: \tab 0.17-6\cr
+Date: \tab 2017-04-06\cr
 Depends: \tab R (>= 3.1.0), lme4 (>= 1.1-8), lsmeans (>= 2.17)\cr
 Encoding: \tab UTF-8\cr
 License: \tab GPL (>=2)\cr
diff --git a/man/afex_aov-methods.Rd b/man/afex_aov-methods.Rd
index 6876d4d..a9ccb28 100644
--- a/man/afex_aov-methods.Rd
+++ b/man/afex_aov-methods.Rd
@@ -11,7 +11,8 @@
 \usage{
 \method{anova}{afex_aov}(object, es = afex_options("es_aov"),
   observed = NULL, correction = afex_options("correction_aov"),
-  MSE = TRUE, intercept = FALSE, p_adjust_method = NULL, ...)
+  MSE = TRUE, intercept = FALSE, p_adjust_method = NULL,
+  sig_symbols = afex_options("sig_symbols"), ...)
 
 \method{print}{afex_aov}(x, ...)
 
@@ -36,6 +37,8 @@
 
 \item{p_adjust_method}{\code{character} indicating if p-values for individual effects should be adjusted for multiple comparisons (see \link[stats]{p.adjust} and details).}
 
+\item{sig_symbols}{Character. What should be the symbols designating significance? When entering an vector with \code{length(sig.symbol) < 4} only those elements of the default (\code{c(" +", " *", " **", " ***")}) will be replaced. \code{sig_symbols = ""} will display the stars but not the \code{+}, \code{sig_symbols = rep("", 4)} will display no symbols. The default is given by \code{afex_options("sig_symbols")}.}
+
 \item{...}{further arguments passed through, see description of return value for details.}
 
 \item{trms, xlev, grid}{same as for \code{\link{lsm.basis}}.}
@@ -57,5 +60,5 @@ Exploratory ANOVA, for which no detailed hypotheses have been specified a priori
 \code{p_adjust_method} defaults to the method specified in the call to \code{\link{aov_car}} in \code{anova_table}. If no method was specified and \code{p_adjust_method = NULL} p-values are not adjusted.
 }
 \references{
-Cramer, A. O. J., van Ravenzwaaij, D., Matzke, D., Steingroever, H., Wetzels, R., Grasman, R. P. P. P., ... Wagenmakers, E.-J. (2015). Hidden multiplicity in exploratory multiway ANOVA: Prevalence and remedies.  \emph{Psychonomic Bulletin & Review}, 1–8. doi:\href{http://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-015-0913-5}{10.3758/s13423-015-0913-5}
+Cramer, A. O. J., van Ravenzwaaij, D., Matzke, D., Steingroever, H., Wetzels, R., Grasman, R. P. P. P., ... Wagenmakers, E.-J. (2015). Hidden multiplicity in exploratory multiway ANOVA: Prevalence and remedies.  \emph{Psychonomic Bulletin & Review}, 1-8. doi:\href{http://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-015-0913-5}{10.3758/s13423-015-0913-5}
 }
diff --git a/man/afex_options.Rd b/man/afex_options.Rd
index e6ffdba..05244b1 100644
--- a/man/afex_options.Rd
+++ b/man/afex_options.Rd
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ The following arguments are currently set:
 \item \code{es_aov}: Effect size reported for ANOVAs (see \code{\link{aov_car}}), default is \code{"ges"} (generalized eta-squared).
 \item \code{correction_aov}: Correction used for within-subjects factors with more than two levels for ANOVAs  (see \code{\link{aov_car}} or \code{\link{nice}}), default is \code{"GG"} (Greenhouse-Geisser correction). (ANOVA functions only)
 \item \code{factorize}: Should between subject factors be factorized (with note) before running the analysis? Default is \code{TRUE}. (ANOVA functions only)
+\item \code{sig_symbols}: Default significant symbols used for ANOVA and \code{mixed} printing. Default is\code{c(" +", " *", " **", " ***")}.
 \item \code{lmer_function}: Which \code{lmer} function should \code{mixed} or \code{lmer_alt} use. The default is \code{"lmerTest"} which uses \code{\link[lmerTest]{lmer}}, \code{"lme4"} is also possible which uses \code{\link[lme4]{lmer}}. There should be no difference between the two. The latter could be minimally faster, but does not allow to use \code{lmerTest::anova()}.
 }
 }
diff --git a/man/nice.Rd b/man/nice.Rd
index 4068102..73efdfa 100644
--- a/man/nice.Rd
+++ b/man/nice.Rd
@@ -15,12 +15,13 @@ nice(object, ...)
   observed = attr(object$anova_table, "observed"),
   correction = attr(object$anova_table, "correction"), MSE = NULL,
   intercept = NULL, p_adjust_method = attr(object$anova_table,
-  "p_adjust_method"), sig_symbols = c(" +", " *", " **", " ***"), ...)
+  "p_adjust_method"), sig_symbols = attr(object$anova_table, "sig_symbols"),
+  ...)
 
 \method{nice}{anova}(object, MSE = NULL, intercept = NULL,
-  sig_symbols = c(" +", " *", " **", " ***"), sig.symbols, ...)
+  sig_symbols = attr(object, "sig_symbols"), sig.symbols, ...)
 
-\method{nice}{mixed}(object, sig_symbols = c(" +", " *", " **", " ***"), ...)
+\method{nice}{mixed}(object, sig_symbols = afex_options("sig_symbols"), ...)
 
 \method{print}{nice_table}(x, ...)
 }
@@ -41,7 +42,7 @@ nice(object, ...)
 
 \item{p_adjust_method}{\code{character} indicating if p-values for individual effects should be adjusted for multiple comparisons (see \link[stats]{p.adjust} and details). The default \code{NULL} corresponds to no adjustment.}
 
-\item{sig_symbols}{Character. What should be the symbols designating significance? When entering an vector with \code{length(sig.symbol) < 4} only those elements of the default (\code{c(" +", " *", " **", " ***")}) will be replaced. \code{sig_symbols = ""} will display the stars but not the \code{+}, \code{sig_symbols = rep("", 4)} will display no symbols.}
+\item{sig_symbols}{Character. What should be the symbols designating significance? When entering an vector with \code{length(sig.symbol) < 4} only those elements of the default (\code{c(" +", " *", " **", " ***")}) will be replaced. \code{sig_symbols = ""} will display the stars but not the \code{+}, \code{sig_symbols = rep("", 4)} will display no symbols. The default is given by \code{afex_options("sig_symbols")}.}
 
 \item{sig.symbols}{deprecated argument, only for backwards compatibility, use \code{"sig_symbols"} instead.}
 }
@@ -70,7 +71,9 @@ Exploratory ANOVA, for which no detailed hypotheses have been specified a priori
 data(md_12.1)
 # create object of class afex_aov:
 rmd <- aov_ez("id", "rt", md_12.1, within = c("angle", "noise"))
+rmd
 nice(rmd)
+str(nice(rmd))
 # use different es:
 nice(rmd, es = "pes") # noise: .82
 nice(rmd, es = "ges") # noise: .39
@@ -89,7 +92,7 @@ tmp.aov <- aov_car(value ~ treatment * gender + Error(id/phase*hour), data = obk
 
 nice(tmp.aov, observed = "gender")
 
-nice(tmp.aov, observed = "gender", sig.symbols = rep("", 4))
+nice(tmp.aov, observed = "gender", sig_symbols = rep("", 4))
 
 \dontrun{
 # use package ascii or xtable for formatting of tables ready for printing.