what are the cons and pros of page creation methods in Sharepoint 2010?

Question

You know that you can create pages in 3 or 4 different ways (Sharepoint desinger, Browser , Visual Studio...) but what's the standard "Best practice" for developers and why? and what are the pros and cons of every method?

Answer 1

In terms of creating pages, I would consider SharePoint Designer (SPD) and the Browser to be equivalent. I can't think of anything you can do in one that you can't do in the other, just the user experience is different.

Now, if you need to add some SharePoint controls onto your pages, SPD will allow you to create and add things like a Data View Web Part. If you need to create a custom workflow then SPD is preferred over the Browser. A pro is that SPD is easy to use (that's a con in some instances). Some cons are that you have limited functionality and scope (workflows, for example, give you limited actions and are scoped at the site level).

Visual Studio gives you virtually unlimited scope, .NET code access to the object model, and is preferred if you need to develop and package a reusable solution. A con is that you need a solid understanding of .NET development, the SharePoint object model, and deploying SharePoint solutions.

If you have a hosted site, the browser and SPD may be your only options.

This is a just a sampling of the comparison between the tools. I'm not sure how detailed a list you need. I think it is best to keep an open mind. More than likely you will use a combination of all three ways...and there is nothing wrong with that. The more familiar you become with all three tools, you will be able to recognize which one works best for which functions in your environment.