As I have said before to much disdain and insult

, i think presets are a great way to learn. You see what the preset sounds like, you learn the purpose of various controls and tweak them to hear the effect, and soon you are capable. This works best if the presets are not extraordinarily complex. For example, it would be hard to learn the functions of a compressor from a preset that had two compressors in series with one side-chained.
I don't know the poster's reasons, but I find it much easier and more intutive to mix on a hardware console that dragging faders and turnking knobs with the mouse—although there is certainly nothing wrong with the on-screen approach if you like it.
I use the hardware console for about 90% of mixing but will click on something if it is right there on the screen but scrolled off the hardware console. Similarly, I use the hardware transport buttons but if my right hand is busy working on Melodyne or something, my left hand will hit the space bar on my keyboard tray. Whatever makes sense.