Many of the default settings for Drupal make for an overwhelming user experience with lots of options that may be irrelevant or poorly laid out.
Thankfully since Drupal is open source you can "scratch your own itch", so to speak and so many developers have created modules that specifically address these issues.
Many of these modules are simple to install and can make a big improvement to your websites usability for both you and your users.
Vertical Tabs
This module takes all the options that are normally stacked above each other at the bottom of your node edit forms and puts them in a nice neat vertical arrangement.
This not only saves space on your forms especially if there are a lot of options but it is much quicker and intuitive. These changes also apply to your content type forms too so the interface for setting up and editing content types is lot simpler.
It's probably geared more towards site administrators, moderators and anyone who might be adding content, but it's definitely worth looking at and will make the job of managing your website more pleasurable.