GWT is a free and open source framework that allows developers to create complex JavaScript front-end applications using Java. It handles cross-browser issues and supports features like OOP designs, reusable UI components, localization, and mixing native JavaScript with Java code. GWT provides UiBinder for binding UI components using an HTML-like markup language at compile time. Alternatively, some companies define UI bindings at runtime using XML defined at the server-side with component definitions in XSDs and dynamically generated factory classes. The document provides examples of defining a sample UI component and binding.