Principle
Any application or solution built in SharePoint must use a custom content type over adding columns to lists. The only exception to this is one-off solutions that have no life-cycle, proof-of-concepts, etc.
Creating Content Types
- Web UI. Not portable, POC only
- C# or Declarative (XML). Must deploy these as Features
Rule
Do not chagne the base XML for a Content Type after deploying. The only exception to this rule is that you can re-deploy a modified Content Type definition only after completely removing it from the environment (either programatically or by hand).
Updating Content Types
- Update and push down to child types
- Web UI. Manual for each environment. Document steps required for repeatability.
- Feature Upgrade. Preferred solution.
- C#. If you created the content type through code you might want to go this route.
- Create new modified Content Types and hide the old one. Not recommended but useful for legacy.
References
Agree or disagree?