http://nishantrana.wordpress.com/2009/02/14/understanding-web-part-life-cycle/ OnInit – Configuration values set using WebBrowsable properties and those in web part task pane are loaded into the web part. LoadViewState – The view state of the web part is populated over here. CreateChildControls – All the controls specified are created and added to controls collection. When the page is being rendered for the first time the method generally occurs after the OnLoad() event. In case of postback, it is called before the OnLoad() event.