diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 60277de..682e3f5 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -3,6 +3,11 @@
 #
 
 expresso = ./node_modules/.bin/mocha
+BROWSERIFY = ./node_modules/.bin/browserify
+TREE_FILES = $(shell ls ./lib/carto/tree/*.js)
+
+# generates the requirement options for browserify for modules loaded dinamically (see, lib/carto/index.js)
+BROWSERIFY_REQUIRES = $(foreach var,$(TREE_FILES), -r $(var):$(subst .js,,$(subst ./lib/carto,.,$(var))))
 
 lint:
 	./node_modules/.bin/jshint lib/carto/*.js lib/carto/tree/*.js
@@ -17,4 +22,10 @@ endif
 
 check: test
 
+dist:
+	mkdir -p dist
+
+dist/carto.uncompressed.js: dist $(shell $(BROWSERIFY) --list lib/carto/index.js) $(TREE_FILES)
+	$(BROWSERIFY) --require $(BROWSERIFY_REQUIRES)  --debug lib/carto/index.js --standalone carto > $@
+
 .PHONY: test
diff --git a/lib/carto/index.js b/lib/carto/index.js
index a0265d8..3b96899 100644
--- a/lib/carto/index.js
+++ b/lib/carto/index.js
@@ -4,7 +4,9 @@ var util = require('util'),
 
 
 function getVersion() {
-    if (parseInt(process.version.split('.')[1], 10) > 4) {
+    if (typeof(this['window']) !== undefined) {
+        return require('../../package.json').version.split('.');
+    } else if (parseInt(process.version.split('.')[1], 10) > 4) {
         return require('../../package.json').version.split('.');
     } else {
         // older node
diff --git a/lib/carto/tree/reference.js b/lib/carto/tree/reference.js
index de0945a..64fe76f 100644
--- a/lib/carto/tree/reference.js
+++ b/lib/carto/tree/reference.js
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@
 (function(tree) {
 
 var _ = require('underscore'),
-    mapnik_reference = require('mapnik-reference'),
     ref = {};
 
 ref.setData = function(data) {
@@ -24,6 +23,7 @@ ref.setData = function(data) {
 };
 
 ref.setVersion = function(version) {
+    var mapnik_reference = require('mapnik-reference');
     if (mapnik_reference.version.hasOwnProperty(version)) {
         ref.setData(mapnik_reference.version[version]);
         return true;
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 94fdc21..6c061a6 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -46,7 +46,8 @@
     "jshint": "0.2.x",
     "sax": "0.1.x",
     "istanbul": "~0.2.14",
-    "coveralls": "~2.10.1"
+    "coveralls": "~2.10.1",
+    "browserify": "~7.0.0"
   },
   "scripts": {
     "pretest": "npm install",