Change default category view options?

When viewing products in a category - can I change SORT BY, and VIEW (list/grid) defaults in v2.5?     (without having to recompile the app)

Hi,

You can change the default view mode.
If you go to Configuration -> Settings -> All Settings you need to set this setting:

catalogsettings.defaultviewmode

For the sorting option there does not seem to be such an option. It comes down to the ProductSortingEnum order of values.