I press the binding in half and sew it on the front by machine. Then I hand-stitch it to the back. It keeps the front seam really crisp and clean (in case my hand work isn't consistent).
The only time I sew the binding on the back is when I machine stitch it from the front using a decorative stitch. That method is really fast and great for scrap/utility quilts. The decorative stitches hide where the seam lines between back and front don't match.