[ebidel]

Can you explain why it feels heavy? I would love to know more.

Polymer's entire stack is a la carte:

* platform.js - polyfills if you just want to use vanilla web component apis, today

* polymer.js - build declarative custom elements that use data-binding, touch, property observation, inheritance

* elements (ui/non-ui) - if you don't want to write any code at all :)

Sugaring libraries like Brick and Polymer that sit on top of the native web component APIs will, of course, be opinionated and do things a bit differently. However, the workflow for consuming components will be similar across the board. Something like `bower install brick-carousel polymer-tabs`. Then use the elements in your pages.