I have often seen decoupling capacitors "hugging" the IC that they're protecting - but that's on '80s era through-hole boards, and things have changed.
It also doesn't help that the design of ICs, for some reason, puts Vcc and GND on diagonally opposite pins!
I know that decoupling capacitors should be "as close as possible" to their ICs, but I assume that the Vcc pin is more important? With (two layer) circuit board designs often having large ground areas, it implies that any ground is a good ground, and you can get better track layouts if you mount the cap perpendicular to the power pin, with the ground side "hanging in the breeze" on a convenient ground pad. I assume that running a specific ground rail to the IC's ground pin(s) is not necessary?
EDIT
OK, there seems to be some confusion (perhaps on my side!). Assume a one layer board, with an IC and capacitor with the following pinout:
14 13 12 11 10 9 8
V+ O Decoupling
V- O capacitor
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
I can either do this (option 1):
14 13 12 11 10 9 8
+--O
+--------------------O
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
or this (option 2):
14 13 12 11 10 9 8
O--------------------+
O--+
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
or this (option 3):
14 12 12 11 10 9 8
+--O
O----(some adjacent ground path)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
I am inferring that #3 is a bad idea?
EDIT #2
Or maybe, since the decoupling is so important, I could do this (for a huge DIP40 chip)?
+-- (some convenient Vcc path)
|
| 40 39 38 37 36 ... 22 21
O +--O
O---+ O----(some convenient ground path)
1 2 3 4 ... 19 20
