When developing custom SharePoint application pages, should I use SharePoint web controls instead of ASP.NET controls?

Question

I'd like to create a couple of custom application pages with native SharePoint 2010 look and feel. So far, I've been drag-and-dropping ASP.NET components into user controls in VS2010, then applying SharePoint's css via CssClass properties.

Now I've noticed that SharePoint aspx pages internally use a lot of SharePoint tags like <SharePoint:UIVersionedContent>, <SharePoint:SPLinkButton>, <wssawc:InputFormTextBox> etc. instead of the usual ASP.NET controls (like <asp:LinkButton>). However, there is no way known to me to create SharePoint pages with the native components other than manually dissecting existing aspx pages and trying to figure what mysterious tags and elements SharePoint uses, then try to emulate this in my own page, line by line.

Should I be worried that I'm using normal ASP.NET tags instead of <SharePoint:*> tags? Is there a better way to create SharePoint-friendly native custom pages other than manually coding everything through trial-and-error?

Answer 1

You can use standard ASP.NET control (or any other) in SharePoint pages however you will need to customize them by CCS styles to look SharePoint-like. It's possible but sometimes time consuming.

On the other hand you can use SharePoint controls. They have SharePoint look out of the box and are prepared for the use in SharePoint. E.g. they can use SharePoint objects directly as data sources etc. Moreover it would be hard to implement some SharePoint controls as PeoplePicker using standard ASP.NET controls, CCS and code-behind.