Defaults are Good

Defaults are an interesting thing.  They are usually put in place because, the majority of the time, the default makes sense to use.  This applies to a lot of aspects in life.  The default place for the turn signal indicator in your car is done because, for the most part, this is where people expect it and it is where people can make use of it without taking their hands off the steering wheel.  The default location of Entry/Exit doors to a building or store are set to mimic the roads that we drive on:  enter on the right (just like driving on the right for you out-of-towners).

When we build applications we also have defaults.  For instance, there is a default name for the application configuration file for a .NET application.  DON'T CHANGE IT.  There is a default name for the file that web sites look for if one is not specified.  DON'T CHANGE IT.  There is a default for buttons when they are pressed.  DON'T CHANGE IT.  There is a default behaviour for text boxes.  DON'T CHANGE IT.

OK, perhaps "DON'T CHANGE IT" is a little harsh, but it grabs your attention better than "Don't change it unless there is a reasonable payback on an alternative including, but not limited to: increased productivity, decreased deployment effort, increased user satisfaction, increased performance, etc."  Seriously, though, unless there is a good reason why you want to make changes to the defaults, let them be.  They are defaults because they work for the majority of people, so why don't they work for you?