The Web Part authoring framework provides the a graphical user interface for connecting Web Parts, mechanisms for determining the compatibility between Web Parts, and the means to persist the connection between Web Parts. The framework builds the user interface for selecting the source and target parts based on a series of compatibility rules. A user can access a menu to specify the type of connection between a compatible source and target part. If the Web Parts implement different connection interface types, a transformer is generated to make the Web Parts compatible. The target and source Web Parts can reside on the same or different pages. Additionally, the target and source Web Parts can be created by different developers. After the end user defines the connection, the framework forms the connection between the Web Parts so the parts can share information.