The description of displacive distorted structures in terms of symmetry-adapted modes is reviewed. A specific parameterization of the symmetry-mode decomposition of these pseudosymmetric structures defined on the setting of the experimental space group is proposed. This approach closely follows crystallographic conventions and permits a straightforward transformation between symmetry-mode and conventional descriptions of the structures. Multiple examples are presented showing the insight provided by the symmetry-mode approach. The methodology is shown at work, illustrating its various possibilities for improving the characterization of distorted structures, for example: detection of hidden structural correlations, identification of fundamental and marginal degrees of freedom, reduction of the effective number of atomic positional parameters, quantitative comparison of structures with the same or different space group, detection of false refinement minima, systematic characterization of thermal behavior, rationalization of phase diagrams and various symmetries in families of compounds etc. The close relation of the symmetry-mode description with the superspace formalism applied to commensurate superstructures is also discussed. Finally, the application of this methodology in the field of ab initio or first-principles calculations is outlined. At present, there are several freely available user-friendly computer tools for performing automatic symmetry-mode analyses. The use of these programs does not require a deep knowledge of group theory and can be applied either a posteriori to analyze a given distorted structure or a priori to parameterize the structure to be determined. It is hoped that this article will encourage the use of these tools. All the examples presented here have been worked out using the program AMPLIMODES [Orobengoa et al. (2009). J. Appl. Cryst. 42, 820-833].