SharePoint 2010 provides a number of templates for creating new sites. Most organizations will decide for you which SharePoint templates you're going to use; it’s usually either a Team Site template or a Publishing Site template. The other templates are specialized.
| Product |
Available Site Templates |
Typical Usage Scenarios |
| SharePoint Foundation 2010 |
Team Site, Meeting Workspace, Blog |
More people contribute content than read it; also when you want
basic layouts |
| SharePoint Server 2010, Standard license; and SharePoint 2010
for Internet Sites, Standard |
Publishing Portal |
Web content management sites, such as portals |
|
|
Enterprise Wiki |
Collaborative sites with Web content management
requirements |
|
|
Document Center |
Sample template to demonstrate SharePoint’s document
management features |
|
|
Basic and Enterprise Search Centers |
Site dedicated to displaying search results |
|
|
My Site Host |
Site dedicated to hosting My Site |
| SharePoint Server 2010, Enterprise License*; and SharePoint
Server 2010 for Internet Sites, Enterprise |
Records Center |
Used for managing document lifecycles |
|
|
Performance Point Site |
Used for creating business intelligence dashboards |
*Includes additional Web Parts and services to support advanced enterprise requirements
There are several others which you can read more about on: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262410.aspx
You can convert a team/blank site to a publishing too.
Usually the best thing to do is to go with a blank site and control all features that you turn on. But the main point is that one should know which site template should be chosen to suffice all the requirements of the site. If you will not be using any of the Publishing feature set, then there is no particular reason, to use a Publishing site it should always be based on your list of goals.
All of the features used by a Publishing site are availalble in a Team Site as well. They just aren't turned on by default. You can still use the OOB approval workflows in a team site. However, they aren't integrated with normal web part pages so if you want to use them to control publishing of content you need to turn on the publishing features. You can still do that even if you start with a Team site template. They just aren't turned on by default. There is no particular reason not to use a Team site for an Internet facing site. I frequently start with a Blank site so that I can control all the features and whether they are turned on or off.