The Joomla URL series include a review of all Joomla URL components:

• Joomla URL Week Part 1 - Default Joomla URLs
• Joomla URL Week Part 2 - Default SEF URLs
• Joomla URL Week Part 3 - Artio SEF Review
• Joomla URL Week Part 4 - Open SEF Review
• Joomla URL Week Part 5 - SEF Advance Review
• Joomla URL Week Part 6 - Conclusions

Personally, I've struggled with the Joomla URL structure for long and have found that the OpenSEF solution best suits what I need. Still - with components like SMF-Joomla Bridge and Joomla!Fish - the URLs are meaningless, since the integration of clean URLs of Joomla and the  Bridge components is almost impossible.

I generally agree with Alledia on OpenSEF :

OpenSEF: This is the choice for websites who are want to manage all aspects of their SEO in one place. The range of tools available makes this truly an SEO component rather than just another SEF URL component. It can be strongly recommended for sites that are not likely to have many thousands of pages of content.

I really find this issue to be an example of Joomla's bad SEO design with complicated components offering features that should be in Joomla's core. Still, with a bit of work, even Joomla can be made to have a decent URL structure. Thanks Alledia.

<?php
global $sc, $context, $settings;

if (!defined('SMF')){
require ("administrator/components/com_smf/config.smf.php");
require ($smf_path."/SSI.php");
}

$sc = &$context['session_id'];
$_SESSION['USER_AGENT'] = $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'];

mysql_select_db($mosConfig_db);
?>
<?php
if ($context['page_title']) echo "<title>".$context['page_title']."</title>"
?>