Homebrew PCBs

> With my home made single-sided SMT boards I put all the SMT stuff on the
> bottom and through-hole components like connectors and wire links on the
> top. It looks a bit strange but works OK.
>
> Leon
>
>

I do that too...

It's the method with the highest component density on single sided boards.
you have all the throughhole components on top, and on the bottom you have 
the smd
stuff "between their pads".

Works very well and you get a lot of parts on a very small area. parts like
connectors, potentiometers, power transistors, switches etc. are sometimes
easier and better to do throughhole, while resistors, capacitors, small 
transistors
are easier and faster to do SMD.
It's the same with ICs i only get/have throughhole. put them on top and 
the external
components needed nicely fit on the bottom layer.

Actually most of my boards look like that, because i do not like to bother 
with two layers.
I do not see any major disadvantage, and it seems quite common in the 
industry too.

It allows you to still use your standard throughhole parts stock, but 
saves a lot of work
with drilling holes for all those resistors and capacitors.

I don't exactly know why you think it looks strange...

ST