A method and apparatus facilitate the creation and maintenance of web pages which include reusable, upgradeable components. The apparatus provides a simple client object which can identify and contain properties for reusable components from a library. The client object does not itself need to be upgraded when components are upgraded and therefore it is not necessary to re-specify all of the properties for a component when a component is upgraded. An upgrade tool reads the properties of instances of the client object which is present in the source for a web publishing software, identifies an upgraded version of a component identified by the client object, reads the properties specified for the component by the client object and reconfigures the instance of the client object to identify the upgraded component and to specify corresponding properties for the upgraded component. Use of the invention facilitates rapid upgrading of web pages.