Lots of jazz guitarists use the drop D tuning for standard work. They play the F shape all up and down the board by spreading the top joint of the third finger across the low 3 strings, among other things. I've tried this way of playing and it has advantages and disadvantages over standard tuning which are too complex to describe briefly, and depend on (i)the player's ability to realise where inversions fall easy, and (ii) the player's ability to turn over the top joints of the left hand fingers, also referred to as "extra finger" techniques. I believe that this style was first popularised by Howard Robert's recording of "Moonlight In Vermont".