diff --git a/Manifest.toml b/Manifest.toml
index ab876d6..f976530 100644
--- a/Manifest.toml
+++ b/Manifest.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # This file is machine-generated - editing it directly is not advised
 
-julia_version = "1.7.0"
+julia_version = "1.7.2"
 manifest_format = "2.0"
 
 [[deps.Artifacts]]
diff --git a/Project.toml b/Project.toml
index 352fb95..7a8ee3f 100644
--- a/Project.toml
+++ b/Project.toml
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 name = "BlockFactorizations"
 uuid = "5c499583-5bfe-4591-9b59-c1e192d48697"
 authors = ["Sebastian Ament <sebastianeament@gmail.com>"]
-version = "1.1.0"
+version = "1.2.0"
 
 [deps]
 LinearAlgebra = "37e2e46d-f89d-539d-b4ee-838fcccc9c8e"
diff --git a/src/block.jl b/src/block.jl
index c0bbda0..50971ba 100644
--- a/src/block.jl
+++ b/src/block.jl
@@ -35,8 +35,9 @@ end
 function BlockFactorization(A::AbstractMatrix, di::Int, dj::Int = di)
     BlockFactorization(A, 1:di:di*size(A, 1)+1, 1:dj:dj*size(A, 2)+1)
 end
+
 # strided = true assumes that A has strided block indices, i.e. every element has the same size
-function BlockFactorization(A::AbstractMatrix, isstrided::Bool = false)
+function BlockFactorization(A::AbstractMatrix; isstrided::Bool = false)
     if isstrided
         di, dj = size(A[1, 1])
         nind, mind = 1:di:di*size(A, 1)+1, 1:dj:dj*size(A, 2)+1
diff --git a/test/block.jl b/test/block.jl
index 4497aff..368e9e3 100644
--- a/test/block.jl
+++ b/test/block.jl
@@ -22,9 +22,8 @@ using Test
                 # test general constructor
                 di, dj = size(A[1])
                 n, m = size(A)
-                isstrided = true
                 strided_factorizations = [BlockFactorization(A),
-                                          BlockFactorization(A, isstrided),
+                                          BlockFactorization(A, isstrided = true),
                                           BlockFactorization(A, di, dj)]
                 # stride_matrices = [A, A, A, D, D, D] # matrices corresponding to strided_factorizations
                 for F in strided_factorizations
@@ -54,6 +53,9 @@ using Test
                     @test length(diagF) == minimum(size(M))
                     @test diagF ≈ diag(M)
                 end
+                allo_1 = @allocated BlockFactorization(A, isstrided = true)
+                allo_2 = @allocated BlockFactorization(A, isstrided = false)
+                @test allo_1 < allo_2
             end
 
             # general, non-strided block matrix
@@ -69,9 +71,8 @@ using Test
             matrices = [A, Diagonal(A)]
 
             for A in matrices
-                isstrided = false
                 factorizations = [BlockFactorization(A),
-                                  BlockFactorization(A, isstrided),
+                                  BlockFactorization(A, isstrided = false),
                                   BlockFactorization(A, nindices, mindices)
                                   ]
                 for F in factorizations
@@ -116,7 +117,7 @@ using Test
             A11 = Diagonal(randn(elty_A, n))
             A12 = randn(elty_A, n, n)
             A21 = UpperTriangular(randn(elty_A, n, n))
-            A22 = cholesky(A21'A21)
+            A22 = cholesky(Hermitian(A21'A21))
             A = reshape([A11, A12, A21, A22], 2, :)
             @test eltype(A) == Any
             B = BlockFactorization(A)