The easiest way to get started is to install the Vaadin Eclipse plugin. Actually, you don't need to download or install anything else but the plug-in to start development. With the plugin, you can easily:
* Create new Vaadin applications that can be deployed as Servlets, Portlets or on Google App Engine
* Create and compile new client-side widgets and widgetsets with integrated Google Web Toolkit
* Create customized look and feel for your application (theme) with CSS
* Read and search the Book of Vaadin inside the Eclipse IDE
* Create and edit custom UI components in the WYSIWYG editor
Vaadin plugin supports Eclipse Java EE versions Ganymede and Galileo.