Most file managers I’ve encountered default to icon view. One of the first things I do is set the default to detailed list view. Might be a preference for seeing names and dates over many identical folder icons, or just an old habit from using Windows. But I’d be curious to hear about the benefits of icon view and why it’s usually the default in Linux GUI file managers.
What does everyone else use and any reasons to prefer one over the other?
What do you mean by that? Aren’t those opposites? That is, if something is unique then it’s being inconsistent.
I mean that an individual folder will always look the same (consistent), and also look distinctly different from any other folder (unique) if that’s how you arranged it. So you could identify a folder instantly.
Everything in list view looks the same at a glance, and most file managers don’t retain a folder window’s size and placement. Modern macOS kiiiind of does but you have to fight it if you don’t want a single-window browsing UI.