* a DOM-model library that can be used to do things like getElementById
* a UI-widget library that has things like HTMLPanel, Label, Tree, Image
pyjamas-desktop rips out the first of these, rips out all javascript in 2) and 3) and replaces the javascript with Webkit/Glib, thus providing the exact same functionality. it's blindingly quick.
I'm down with abstracting javascript (good riddance), but I like to be picky about html.