Visual noise and the psychological effect known as "the tyranny of small decisions are at play in the admin UI where all details wrappers are expanded by default on pageload nullifying their utility (their purpose is to collapse information until it is needed).
The proposal is simply to collapse the details wrapper by default and either create exceptions for the first details where the only content on a page is wrapped in details so that the user never arrives at a UI where everything is collapsed, or remove those first sections from Summary and details wrappers entirely.
Style changes references below that accompany this are in a separate issue
#2048369: Remove border from details/fieldset →
Examples
Admin/content on load (current):
admin/content on load (proposed):
admin/configuration/site_information (current):
admin/configuration/site_information (proposed):
Pages and forms that would be affected
(eg. would need to have first details wrapper changed to "open" or remove the wrapper)
admin/appearance/settings and /seven -> open "Toggle display"
admin/appearance/settings/bartik -> open "Color scheme"
admin/modules -> open "core"
admin/config/people/accounts -> open "Contact settings"
admin/config/search/settings -> open "Indexing status"
admin/config/regional/settings -> open "Locale"
admin/config/system/site-information -> open "Site Details"
admin/config/development/performance -> open "Clear cache"
admin/structure/views/settings/advanced -> open "Caching"
core/install.php configure site -> open both the first and second sections since both have required fields
Some of these, like performance may need to open the second set as well, or combine them.