I really like the idea of using solderied jumpers and I have used them, but they should not always be used to replace standard component jumpers. There are basically 3 or 4 types of jumpers that I know and maybe someone could help me out if I do not mention all of them. Below is a list attributing the pros and cons of each:

			Solderied:	Zero Resistance:	male header/female jumper:	Switches:

cost:			Very Little	Little			Moderate			Exspensive

Mechanical reliability:	High		High			Moderate			Moderate

Area/Volume consumed:	Very Little	Little			Moderate			High

User Friendly Config:	LOW		LOW			Moderate			High

Example Application:	RS-485		High Volume		Rise/Fall Pulse Edge		Board Configuration


 

So, for solderied jumping I will typically only use this if I have a lot of boards, but only one of them needs to be jumped, as in termination needs for RS-485 to control multiple motors. The idea is that once configured the board will never change and I have done a board run with the same board that way I avoid making multiple boards.

When using zero resistance, typically a machine will be involved in placing the components on the board and high volume board products are expected to be configured as in the production of a PCI A/D to meet the customer specifications. The zero resistance jumper can be removed.

Using a male header and a female jumper would be nice to have when only selecting the rising edge or falling edge of a pulse so that an incoming sync trigger from a separate device can be made to match and allows the designer to switch out the separate device that may put out only negative or positive going sync pulses.

Finally, switches are nice when there are master boards and slave boards specifically for addressing, but this is old fashioned and is usually done with memory. This leads to the DC characteristics, switches can handle more power per volume than the other methods.

Maybe some more examples from everyone can help define which methods are best suited for a given application and maybe there are more than these 4 methods. The pros and cons are my perspective and are opinionated. Rightly so, there may be cases where they can vary given the application.