layout: default
type: start
shortname: Docs
title: What is Polymer?
subtitle: Get started
The {{site.project_title}} library is designed to make it easier and faster
for developers to create great, reusable components for the modern web.
Custom elements extend the web
HTML provides a set of built-in elements like <button>
, <form>
and
<table>
. Each element has its own API of attributes, properties, methods, and
events. Each element has built-in styling, as well as style properties you can
override using CSS.
Anyone can use these elements to build a simple web page. But they're
limited. To build something as simple as a set of tabs, you need HTML
plus CSS and usually a script, too.
With custom elements, you can extend the vocabulary of HTML with your own elements.
Elements that provide sophisticated UI. Elements that are as easy to use as <select>
:
<my-tabstrip>
<my-tab>
Home
</my-tab>
<my-tab>
Services
</my-tab>
<my-tab>
Contact Us
</my-tab>
<my-tabstrip>
Is {{site.project_title}} web components? Is it elements?
{{site.project_title}} isn't either of those things. {{site.project_title}} is built on top of the web components standards and it helps you build your own custom elements:
-
Web components. These standards provide the primitives you
need to build new components. You can build your own custom elements
using these primitives, but it can be a lot of work.Not all browsers support these standards yet, so the web components polyfill
library fills the gaps, implementing the APIs in JavaScript. -
The {{site.project_title}} library. Provides a declarative syntax that
makes it simpler to define custom elements. And it adds features like
templating, two-way data binding and property observation to help
you build powerful, reusable elements with less code. -
Custom elements. If you don't want to write your own elements, there
are a number of elements built with {{site.project_title}} that you can drop
straight into your existing pages. These elements depend on the {{site.project_title}}
library, but you can use the elements without using {{site.project_title}} directly.You can mix and match elements built with {{site.project_title}} with other
custom elements, as well as built-in elements.
Get some elements
The {{site.project_title}} team has written collections of elements that you can use
in your apps. You can find them on the Element catalog.
Write your own
Interested in using the {{site.project_title}} library to build your own elements?
Take a quick tour of the features:
<p>
<a href="../start/quick-tour.html">
<paper-button raised><core-icon icon="arrow-forward"></core-icon>Quick tour</paper-button>
</a>
</p>
Or jump straight to:
<p>
<a href="../devguide/feature-overview.html">
<paper-button raised><core-icon icon="arrow-forward"></core-icon>Developer guide</paper-button>
</a>
</p>
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