Developing a DNN module doesn't have to be hard, you should check out my module development templates and blog series, start with this blog post

http://cjh.am/tutorialmoduledev

As for if you should develop your application as a module or standalone, that really depends on what you want to do going forward. If you're happy with DNN and how it works, then I wouldn't build something outside of it, if you aren't positive you'll stick with DNN long term then going standalone would probably be better, though integrating with DNN membership and security will be more difficult.

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Chris Hammond
Former DNN Corp Employee, MVP, Core Team Member, Trustee
Christoc.com Software Solutions DotNetNuke Module Development, Upgrades and consulting.
dnnCHAT.com a chat room for DotNetNuke discussions