In my opinion, this comes far more down to the aircraft's characteristics than personal preference.
For example, if an aircraft has low lateral stability and good rudder power, a crabbed approach will always be preferable (for example a Zenair CH701). Similarly, an aircraft with high sideforces, such as an X'Air needs this approach, because the sideslip during wing-down is incredibly uncomfortable.
However, if lateral stability is higher, a crabbed approach can be difficult to fly because of the large attitude change during the transition to wing-down in the flare, so (particularly if the aircraft has lowish sideforce due to sideslip) a wing down is favoured. The high wing Cessna's come firmly into this bracket in my book, as do the Shadow and L1011 (now there's two aircraft types you rarely get together in one sentence).
The use of crab-only is generally reserved for aircraft without independent yaw controls, and boasting especially strengthened undercarriages. I land a flexwing microlight, or a 2-axis aeroplane (flying flea variants) like this, but would not normally contemplate that in anything else - you'll probably pull the gear off in a decent crosswind, and certainly upset the owner.
Having said that, many aircraft are "in the middle" with regard to lateral stability and rudder power, so it's reasonably to pick which one you're most comfortable. but, the POH for the type should give you guidance, and I'd recommend starting with that at-least. Mind you, I just got a PA28 manual off the shelf, which offers no advice at-all, although my experience is that wing-down works best on that type because the sideforces are so low.
G
Last edited by Genghis the Engineer; 28th April 2002 at 19:10.