Google has released its Google Web Toolkit (GWT) for the Mac. Version 1.2 now works on OS X as well as Linux and Windows.

I haven’t used it yet, so I can’t really attest to its capabilities. Basically, though, it allows you to write and debug AJAX web apps in Java and compile them to browser-compliant JavaScript and HTML.

As they phrase it on their site, GWT “makes writing AJAX applications like Google Maps and Gmail easy for developers who don’t speak browser quirks as a second language. Writing dynamic web applications today is a tedious and error-prone process; you spend 90% of your time working around subtle incompatibilities between web browsers and platforms, and JavaScript’s lack of modularity makes sharing, testing, and reusing AJAX components difficult and fragile.”

There’s also a Google Web Toolkit blog where you can follow the Toolkit’s development progress.

PS> This is my first post to Clientside since it went public to the world, so I thought that I should, like Aaron, also throw out a “hello world.”

I’m Mark Bult, an Art Director at CNET Networks, currently working on redesigns of Webshots.com, UrbanBaby.com, and Consumating.com, three of CNET’s community and lifestyle properties.

I also blog about Mac and graphic design stuff (and personal stuff, so you’ve been warned that a lot of it’s boring) at enews.org.