diff --git a/darwin/table.m b/darwin/table.m
index f148472d..41726b6b 100644
--- a/darwin/table.m
+++ b/darwin/table.m
@@ -171,26 +171,21 @@ static void uiTableDestroy(uiControl *c)
 	uiFreeControl(uiControl(t));
 }
 
-void uiTableSetRowBackgroundColorModelColumn(uiTable *t, int modelColumn)
-{
-	t->backgroundColumn = modelColumn;
-	// TODO update all rows
-}
-
-uiTable *uiNewTable(uiTableModel *model)
+uiTable *uiNewTable(uiTableParams *p)
 {
 	uiTable *t;
-	uiprivScrollViewCreateParams p;
+	uiprivScrollViewCreateParams sp;
 
 	uiDarwinNewControl(uiTable, t);
-	t->m = model;
+	t->m = p->Model;
+	t->backgroundColumn = p->RowBackgroundColorModelColumn;
 
 	t->tv = [[uiprivTableView alloc] initWithFrame:NSZeroRect uiprivT:t uiprivM:t->m];
 
-	[t->tv setDataSource:model->m];
-	[t->tv setDelegate:model->m];
+	[t->tv setDataSource:t->m->m];
+	[t->tv setDelegate:t->m->m];
 	[t->tv reloadData];
-	[model->tables addObject:t->tv];
+	[t->m->tables addObject:t->tv];
 
 	// TODO is this sufficient?
 	[t->tv setAllowsColumnReordering:NO];
@@ -204,23 +199,21 @@ uiTable *uiNewTable(uiTableModel *model)
 	[t->tv setAllowsTypeSelect:YES];
 	// TODO floatsGroupRows — do we even allow group rows?
 
-	memset(&p, 0, sizeof (uiprivScrollViewCreateParams));
-	p.DocumentView = t->tv;
+	memset(&sp, 0, sizeof (uiprivScrollViewCreateParams));
+	sp.DocumentView = t->tv;
 	// this is what Interface Builder sets it to
 	// TODO verify
-	p.BackgroundColor = [NSColor colorWithCalibratedWhite:1.0 alpha:1.0];
-	p.DrawsBackground = YES;
-	p.Bordered = YES;
-	p.HScroll = YES;
-	p.VScroll = YES;
-	t->sv = uiprivMkScrollView(&p, &(t->d));
+	sp.BackgroundColor = [NSColor colorWithCalibratedWhite:1.0 alpha:1.0];
+	sp.DrawsBackground = YES;
+	sp.Bordered = YES;
+	sp.HScroll = YES;
+	sp.VScroll = YES;
+	t->sv = uiprivMkScrollView(&sp, &(t->d));
 
 	// TODO WHY DOES THIS REMOVE ALL GRAPHICAL GLITCHES?
 	// I got the idea from http://jwilling.com/blog/optimized-nstableview-scrolling/ but that was on an unrelated problem I didn't seem to have (although I have small-ish tables to start with)
 	// I don't get layer-backing... am I supposed to layer-back EVERYTHING manually? I need to check Interface Builder again...
 	[t->sv setWantsLayer:YES];
 
-	t->backgroundColumn = -1;
-
 	return t;
 }
diff --git a/test/page16.c b/test/page16.c
index 51aa3a59..c0f438f4 100644
--- a/test/page16.c
+++ b/test/page16.c
@@ -103,7 +103,8 @@ uiBox *makePage16(void)
 	uiBox *page16;
 	uiTableModel *m;
 	uiTable *t;
-	uiTableTextColumnOptionalParams p;
+	uiTableParams p;
+	uiTableTextColumnOptionalParams tp;
 
 	img[0] = uiNewImage(16, 16);
 	appendImageNamed(img[0], "andlabs_16x16test_24june2016.png");
@@ -125,22 +126,23 @@ uiBox *makePage16(void)
 	mh.SetCellValue = modelSetCellValue;
 	m = uiNewTableModel(&mh);
 
-	t = uiNewTable(m);
+	memset(&p, 0, sizeof (uiTableParams));
+	p.Model = m;
+	p.RowBackgroundColorModelColumn = 3;
+	t = uiNewTable(&p);
 	uiBoxAppend(page16, uiControl(t), 1);
 
 	uiTableAppendTextColumn(t, "Column 1",
 		0, uiTableModelColumnNeverEditable, NULL);
 
-	memset(&p, 0, sizeof (uiTableTextColumnOptionalParams));
-	p.ColorModelColumn = 4;
+	memset(&tp, 0, sizeof (uiTableTextColumnOptionalParams));
+	tp.ColorModelColumn = 4;
 	uiTableAppendImageTextColumn(t, "Column 2",
 		5,
-		1, uiTableModelColumnNeverEditable, &p);
+		1, uiTableModelColumnNeverEditable, &tp);
 	uiTableAppendTextColumn(t, "Editable",
 		2, uiTableModelColumnAlwaysEditable, NULL);
 
-	uiTableSetRowBackgroundColorModelColumn(t, 3);
-
 	uiTableAppendCheckboxColumn(t, "Checkboxes",
 		7, uiTableModelColumnAlwaysEditable);
 	uiTableAppendButtonColumn(t, "Buttons",
diff --git a/uitable.h b/uitable.h
index 80ed1887..5302edfe 100644
--- a/uitable.h
+++ b/uitable.h
@@ -58,11 +58,17 @@ _UI_EXTERN void uiTableModelRowDeleted(uiTableModel *m, int oldIndex);
 #define uiTableModelColumnAlwaysEditable (-2)
 
 typedef struct uiTableTextColumnOptionalParams uiTableTextColumnOptionalParams;
+typedef struct uiTableParams uiTableParams;
 
 struct uiTableTextColumnOptionalParams {
 	int ColorModelColumn;
 };
 
+struct uiTableParams {
+	uiTableModel *Model;
+	int RowBackgroundColorModelColumn;
+};
+
 typedef struct uiTable uiTable;
 #define uiTable(this) ((uiTable *) (this))
 _UI_EXTERN void uiTableAppendTextColumn(uiTable *t,
@@ -97,6 +103,4 @@ _UI_EXTERN void uiTableAppendButtonColumn(uiTable *t,
 	const char *name,
 	int buttonModelColumn,
 	int buttonClickableModelColumn);
-// TODO getter?
-_UI_EXTERN void uiTableSetRowBackgroundColorModelColumn(uiTable *t, int modelColumn);
-_UI_EXTERN uiTable *uiNewTable(uiTableModel *model);
+_UI_EXTERN uiTable *uiNewTable(uiTableParams *params);
diff --git a/unix/table.c b/unix/table.c
index 97750cae..010b1b39 100644
--- a/unix/table.c
+++ b/unix/table.c
@@ -413,21 +413,15 @@ static void uiTableDestroy(uiControl *c)
 	uiFreeControl(uiControl(t));
 }
 
-void uiTableSetRowBackgroundColorModelColumn(uiTable *t, int modelColumn)
-{
-	t->backgroundColumn = modelColumn;
-	// TODO refresh table
-}
-
-uiTable *uiNewTable(uiTableModel *model)
+uiTable *uiNewTable(uiTableParams *p)
 {
 	uiTable *t;
 
 	uiUnixNewControl(uiTable, t);
 
-	t->model = model;
+	t->model = p->Model;
 	t->columnParams = g_ptr_array_new();
-	t->backgroundColumn = -1;
+	t->backgroundColumn = p->RowBackgroundColorModelColumn;
 
 	t->widget = gtk_scrolled_window_new(NULL, NULL);
 	t->scontainer = GTK_CONTAINER(t->widget);
diff --git a/windows/table.cpp b/windows/table.cpp
index 2c821b6e..b8690a73 100644
--- a/windows/table.cpp
+++ b/windows/table.cpp
@@ -478,14 +478,7 @@ void uiTableAppendButtonColumn(uiTable *t, const char *name, int buttonModelColu
 	p->buttonClickableModelColumn = buttonClickableModelColumn;
 }
 
-void uiTableSetRowBackgroundColorModelColumn(uiTable *t, int modelColumn)
-{
-	// TODO make the names consistent
-	t->backgroundColumn = modelColumn;
-	// TODO redraw?
-}
-
-uiTable *uiNewTable(uiTableModel *model)
+uiTable *uiNewTable(uiTableParams *p)
 {
 	uiTable *t;
 	int n;
@@ -494,14 +487,16 @@ uiTable *uiNewTable(uiTableModel *model)
 	uiWindowsNewControl(uiTable, t);
 
 	t->columns = new std::vector<uiprivTableColumnParams *>;
-	t->model = model;
+	t->model = p->Model;
+	t->backgroundColumn = p->RowBackgroundColorModelColumn;
+
 	// WS_CLIPCHILDREN is here to prevent drawing over the edit box used for editing text
 	t->hwnd = uiWindowsEnsureCreateControlHWND(WS_EX_CLIENTEDGE,
 		WC_LISTVIEW, L"",
 		LVS_REPORT | LVS_OWNERDATA | LVS_SINGLESEL | WS_CLIPCHILDREN | WS_TABSTOP | WS_HSCROLL | WS_VSCROLL,
 		hInstance, NULL,
 		TRUE);
-	model->tables->push_back(t);
+	t->model->tables->push_back(t);
 	uiWindowsRegisterWM_NOTIFYHandler(t->hwnd, onWM_NOTIFY, uiControl(t));
 
 	// TODO: try LVS_EX_AUTOSIZECOLUMNS
@@ -509,12 +504,10 @@ uiTable *uiNewTable(uiTableModel *model)
 	SendMessageW(t->hwnd, LVM_SETEXTENDEDLISTVIEWSTYLE,
 		(WPARAM) (LVS_EX_FULLROWSELECT | LVS_EX_LABELTIP | LVS_EX_SUBITEMIMAGES),
 		(LPARAM) (LVS_EX_FULLROWSELECT | LVS_EX_LABELTIP | LVS_EX_SUBITEMIMAGES));
-	n = uiprivTableModelNumRows(model);
+	n = uiprivTableModelNumRows(t->model);
 	if (SendMessageW(t->hwnd, LVM_SETITEMCOUNT, (WPARAM) n, 0) == 0)
 		logLastError(L"error calling LVM_SETITEMCOUNT in uiNewTable()");
 
-	t->backgroundColumn = -1;
-
 	hr = uiprivUpdateImageListSize(t);
 	if (hr != S_OK) {
 		// TODO