@User fits into the category of "nice to have" I guess. maybe the RC file would be a simple place for something like that to avoid bloating the GUI

I just checked in an update that implements this idea. I did not change the "Text..." menu pop-up window to match, but from the command line you can now do, e.g., "setlabel -default font FreeSans; setlabel -default size 0.5um" and those defaults will be applied whenever you create a label from the command line.

Thanks @Tim Edwards. Where are they saved? In the mag file? Or somewhere project independent such that they apply across sessions and on different projects? Or are they ephemeral?

@Tom: They're ephemeral. You would want to add the commands to your .magicrc file so that they are set when you start magic.

Got it. Thanks!