Wordpress plugin page for front-end users

Question

I am new to Wordpress. but I know Joomla very well. I was trying to create a plugin which have front-end and back-end maintenance section. I completed my back-end section and I am on the way to front-end section. But I struck with some doubts. My doubts are, I found two method to implement a front-end page. One is copying the php page to template directory and assign the template in the add page section. another is create short code in plugin and add some tag inside the page section.

My doubt is which one is the correct way to do this in Wordpress?

In Joomla this is done by a component which have different views and controllers very easy to manage!

Please help me.

Answer 1

There's a 3rd, more code way - use filters, hooks, etc. You can actually create your own views and controllers in your plugin's folder, just learn how to use your own code in different page lifecycle stages.

Tom McFarlin's tutorials are great for learning this (proper) way of developing custom functionality with WordPress. Check them here:

http://tutsplus.com/authors/tom-mcfarlin