Better way to pass parameters to web part

Question

I'm making a series of web parts which will take parameters.

I've already made a twitter web part, and would like to make a series that make use of PickerTreeDialog to render contents of user selected lists and libraries.

My question is, the standard way of passing parameters to SharePoint is kind of ugly and confusing to the average user.

Is there a better way to do this? Don't need new functionality. I already have it working the vanilla way as shown here: http://onlinecoder.blogspot.com/2011/04/custom-properties-in-sharepoint-2010_7158.html

Answer 1

What about connections ?

Walkthrough: Creating Connectable Web Parts in SharePoint

Answer 2

You can create a custom UI and pass parameters with GetLimitedWebPartManager

protected void setTwitterName_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    string Name = TwitterHandle.Text.Trim();

    if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(Name))
    {
        using (var webPartManager = SPContext.Current.Web.GetLimitedWebPartManager("default.aspx",PersonalizationScope.User))
        {
            try
            {
                foreach (var twitterWebPart in webPartManager.WebParts.Cast<WebPart>().Where(webPart => webPart.Title == "Twitter").Cast<Twitter>())
                {
                    twitterWebPart.Name = Name;
                    webPartManager.SaveChanges(twitterWebPart);
                    PropertiesWebPart.Name = Name;
                    DisplayTweets();
                }
            }
            catch
            {
            }
        }
    }
}