Nice intro to `~/.ssh/config`, klaatu.

The "protocol 2" option is the default for quite some time - as in "more than 10 yrs". I think the latest version of OpenSSH doesn't even compile with support for version 1 by default. At least the sshd.

Shortening hostnames comes really handy in cases like " web-frontend.fancy-example-corp.co.uk".
And there's also patterns matching like 

  Host *.fancy-example-corp.co.uk *.fancy-example-corp.com
    Username joe-the-admin
    identityfile ~/.ssh/work_rsa
    

  Host web-frontend1.fancy-example-corp.co.uk 
    Port 56278
  
  Host web-frontend1.fancy-example-corp.co.uk 
    Port 57427
  
This way you can group hosts with common options easily.