Buck & Eric,

go with what you know. If you are comfortable using a slip to align
the nose with the runway, it's a perfectly reasonable way to
compensate for crosswind. However, I must once again take exception to
the notion that tilting the lift vector compensates for crosswind.
This is simply wrong. Draw some pictures to work your way through the
problem.

Tilting the lift vector produces a turn, regardless of wind. The turn
will continue so long as the wings are banked. If, however, you use
opposite rudder to counteract the turn, you are creating a force with
the fuselage to balance the inward component of your lift. That is,
the forces are balanced... You will continue to fly straight. A slip
only increases drag by presenting more of the fuselage to the relative
wind. It is stable, straight line flight. An unbalanced force (like
tilting the lift vector) creates an acceleration, which means that
either your speed or direction changes.

Remember, that for an aircraft in the air, the wind is not a force.
Since the aircraft moves with the airmass, there is no wind. So
tilting a lift vector against "the wind" is meaningless. If the
airmass is moving with respect to the ground, you establish a desired
track across the ground by crabbing. (When was the last time you flew
x-country from point A to point B in a slip?)

The difficulty comes when we need to transition from the air to the
ground. The moment the wheels touch the ground, the wind becomes an
unbalanced force, and we need to make control inputs to deal with it.
There are two techniques. We know them both. But be clear, we
compensate for airmass movement using a crab, not a slip. Transition
to the ground is achieved by momentarily crossing the controls. I
prefer to do this during the flair. Others choose to initiate that
process after turning base. It's a matter of preference. I like my yaw
string straight and my airspeed indicator dependable when near the
ground. (Eric, note that your visual and aural cues become less
trustworthy when near the ground or when flying sideways.) Again, a
matter of choice. But let's get off this notion that a tilted wing
cancels out the effect of wind. It doesn't, at least, not while you
are in the air. To establish a track down the runway you are crabbing.
To align the fuselage parallel with the rundway, you are slipping. You
may initiate both simultaneously, but they are distinct actions and
serve very different purposes.

This is building block stuff, which is why I'm still beating it.