---
title: Overview
order: 1
layout: page
---

[[clientsidewidgets.overview]]
= Overview

The Vaadin client-side API is based on the Google Web Toolkit. It involves
__widgets__ for representing the user interface as Java objects, which are
rendered as a HTML DOM in the browser. Events caused by user interaction with
the page are delegated to event handlers, where you can implement your UI logic.

In general, the client-side widgets come in two categories - basic GWT widgets
and Vaadin-specific widgets. The library includes __connectors__ for integrating
the Vaadin-specific widgets with the server-side components, thereby enabling
the server-side development model of Vaadin. The integration is described in
<<../gwt/gwt-overview.asciidoc#gwt.overview,"Integrating
with the Server-Side">>.

The layout of the client-side UI is managed with __panel__ widgets, which
correspond in their function with layout components in the Vaadin server-side
API.

In addition to the rendering API, the client-side API includes facilities for
making HTTP requests, logging, accessibility, internationalization, and testing.

For information about the basic GWT framework, please refer to
https://developers.google.com/web-toolkit/overview.



