I recommend -FX instead of -EX. They both quit immediately if the output is smaller than the screen size, but -FX does not quit if the output is larger and you jump to the end of a large file, so you can continue to do things like scroll back or search.

git uses "less -FRX" by default. This is how I learned about -F.

(To be pedentic, git uses "LESS=FRX less", which accomplishes the same thing.)