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AMP: Building Accelerated Mobile Pages
AMP: Building Accelerated Mobile Pages

AMP: Building Accelerated Mobile Pages: Create lightning-fast mobile pages by leveraging AMP technology

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AMP: Building Accelerated Mobile Pages

Building Your First AMP Page

In this chapter, we're going to build on the boilerplate code from the previous chapter. We'll see how to build a simple news article page, while highlighting similarities and differences between AMP-HTML and regular HTML.

We'll also learn about AMP validation. Validation is a key step in the AMP development workflow. We'll see what happens when you use HTML tags that aren't permitted and we'll learn how to develop and debug AMP pages, making use of the AMP validator and browser developer console as indispensable tools. What AMP takes with one hand in restricting HTML tags, it gives with the other, in providing custom elements. We'll see how custom elements can be used in your AMP pages to add functionality otherwise unavailable.

So, in this chapter we'll be covering:

  • How to develop pages in AMP, and how to...

Going from HTML to AMP-HTML

Assuming that you have a basic familiarity with HTML, we'll use a simple HTML5 news page as our jump-in point, and we'll convert it to AMP-HTML. Unless you are building a canonical AMP page, that is, a standalone AMP page that doesn't have a desktop counterpart, then a common task you may find yourself doing is converting a full HTML page to AMP-HTML. That's what we're going to do now.

Below is a screenshot of the page we'll be working with. It's a simplified version of a typical news article page. It includes some key items that we'll convert to AMP-HTML in this chapter. These are the header, logo, nav menu, article title, feature image, article content, and footer. In subsequent chapters we'll refine and improve the AMP page as we go along.

Our first AMP page!

The HTML behind this page is listed below...

Validating your AMP pages

Now that we've included the AMP-JS library we have access to a very important component of AMP that comes bundled with the library: the AMP validator. We briefly touched on AMP validation in the last chapter. Let's look at it in a bit more detail now.

Validation is useful because it will tell us when there are issues with our AMP pages, and it will report which part of a page has caused a problem. If an AMP page doesn't validate, it won't be included in the AMP Cache, and while it will still generally load quickly, it won't enjoy the benefit of instant loading that the cache brings.

Time to validate! If there's one thing that AMP is not short on, it's validation tools. There are a few different ways we can validate our pages.

...

Using JavaScript in AMP pages

Let's deal with our first non-boilerplate error message:

The tag 'script' is disallowed except in specific forms.

In AMP, to guarantee performance, the use of JavaScript is greatly restricted. You can't write your own scripts, or include non-AMP JavaScript code. To fix this error, just remove the following line from your AMP document.

<script type="text/javascript" src="script.js"></script>

Don't worry, it's not needed. It was only included to demonstrate what the validator thinks of you including your own JavaScript!

Using CSS in AMP pages

We're not finished converting our page to AMP just yet; let's deal with the validation error that mentions the style sheet next:

The attribute 'href' in tag 'link rel=stylesheet for fonts' is set to the invalid value 'style.css'.

One of the ways that AMP achieves its speed is by forbidding linked external style sheets. This means that all CSS must be inlined in the <head> of your AMP page. Open up the style sheet, and copy-paste all of the CSS rules you find into the AMP document. You'll need to wrap this CSS in a <style amp-custom> tag like this:

<style amp-custom>
html, body, ul {
margin:0;
padding:0;
}
...
</style>
You can only have one <style> tag in your AMP document, and it must include the amp-custom attribute.

Inlined CSS is limited to 50 KB per page, which is considered...

Your first AMP component - <amp-img>

The next validation error message is interesting:

The tag 'img' may only appear as a descendant of tag 'noscript'. Did you mean 'amp-img'?

This error deserves special attention: it's the first error that's complaining about what looks to be standard use of an HTML tag. It's basically telling us that the HTML <img> tag is not permitted in AMP, and it's suggesting an alternative <amp-img>.

Let's try to swap in <amp-img> in place of our <img> tag. Copy this line in instead:

<amp-img src="https://theampbook.com/ch2/lightning.jpg"></amp-img>

Note the closing </amp-img> tag. The HTML img tag is a void tag, which means that it doesn't need to be explicitly closed. However, the same does not hold for amp-img; so you must close it explicitly...

Going from HTML to AMP-HTML


Assuming that you have a basic familiarity with HTML, we'll use a simple HTML5 news page as our jump-in point, and we'll convert it to AMP-HTML. Unless you are building a canonical AMP page, that is, a standalone AMP page that doesn't have a desktop counterpart, then a common task you may find yourself doing is converting a full HTML page to AMP-HTML. That's what we're going to do now.

Below is a screenshot of the page we'll be working with. It's a simplified version of a typical news article page. It includes some key items that we'll convert to AMP-HTML in this chapter. These are the header, logo, nav menu, article title, feature image, article content, and footer. In subsequent chapters we'll refine and improve the AMP page as we go along.

 

Our first AMP page!

The HTML behind this page is listed below, and can also be found at /ch2/news.html. There's nothing difficult here, but if you don't understand this markup, now would be a good time to brush up on your HTML...

Validating your AMP pages


Now that we've included the AMP-JS library we have access to a very important component of AMP that comes bundled with the library: the AMP validator. We briefly touched on AMP validation in the last chapter. Let's look at it in a bit more detail now.

Validation is useful because it will tell us when there are issues with our AMP pages, and it will report which part of a page has caused a problem. If an AMP page doesn't validate, it won't be included in the AMP Cache, and while it will still generally load quickly, it won't enjoy the benefit of instant loading that the cache brings.

Time to validate! If there's one thing that AMP is not short on, it's validation tools. There are a few different ways we can validate our pages.

Developer tools console

The browser developer console is probably the easiest way to start validating your pages. Since the validator is included in the AMP-JS library, you can validate every page out of the box. To validate an AMP page, open the...

Using JavaScript in AMP pages


Let's deal with our first non-boilerplate error message:

The tag 'script' is disallowed except in specific forms.

In AMP, to guarantee performance, the use of JavaScript is greatly restricted. You can't write your own scripts, or include non-AMP JavaScript code. To fix this error, just remove the following line from your AMP document.

<script type="text/javascript" src="script.js"></script>

Don't worry, it's not needed. It was only included to demonstrate what the validator thinks of you including your own JavaScript!

Using CSS in AMP pages


We're not finished converting our page to AMP just yet; let's deal with the validation error that mentions the style sheet next:

The attribute 'href' in tag 'link rel=stylesheet for fonts' is set to the invalid value 'style.css'.

One of the ways that AMP achieves its speed is by forbidding linked external style sheets. This means that all CSS must be inlined in the <head> of your AMP page. Open up the style sheet, and copy-paste all of the CSS rules you find into the AMP document. You'll need to wrap this CSS in a <style amp-custom> tag like this:

<style amp-custom>
  html, body, ul {
    margin:0;
    padding:0;
  }
  ...
</style>

Note

You can only have one <style> tag in your AMP document, and it must include the amp-custom attribute.Inlined CSS is limited to 50 KB per page, which is considered enough to style a single page

If you reload the page now, you should see that the CSS validation error message is now resolved.

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Key benefits

  • The first book for web developers that shows how to put AMP to work
  • Improve your website's mobile experience and get more traffic
  • Practical methods to achieve a step change in performance quickly and easily

Description

Google introduced the Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) project to give mobile users lightning-fast response times when accessing web pages on mobile devices. AMP delivers great user experiences by providing a framework for optimizing web pages that otherwise would take much longer to load on a mobile platform. This book shows how to solve page performance issues using the mobile web technologies available today. You will learn how to build instant-loading web pages, and have them featured more prominently on Google searches. If you want your website to succeed on mobile, if you care about SEO, and if you want to stay competitive, then this book is for you! You will go on a mobile web development journey that demonstrates with concrete examples how to build lightning-fast pages that will keep your visitors on-site and happy. This journey begins by showing how to build a simple blog article-style web page using AMP. As new concepts are introduced this page is gradually refined until you will have the skills and confidence to build a variety of rich and interactive mobile web pages. These will include e-commerce product pages, interactive forms and menus, maps and commenting systems, and even Progressive Web Apps.

Who is this book for?

This book is for experienced web developers who are aware of the impact of slow-loading web pages on conversion rates and user engagement, and who are seeking to serve content to their end users in a rich and enticing way using the Accelerated Mobile Pages framework. You should be familiar with HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, and JSON.

What you will learn

  • Build, validate, and deploy AMP pages
  • Create interactive user notifications, navigation menus, accordions, contact pages with forms and maps
  • Monetize your traffic with a variety of ad styles and providers
  • Analyze your traffic by integrating analytics providers and tracking user-behavior along several dimensions
  • Embed social media with amp-youtube, amp-instagram, amp-twitter, and amp-facebook
  • Build e-commerce functionality including product pages and shopping carts
  • Deliver rich media experiences using AMP custom elements
  • Use advanced deployment techniques to extend functionality
  • Install ServiceWorkers and build Progressive Web Apps for offline use

Product Details

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Publication date, Length, Edition, Language, ISBN-13
Publication date : Oct 05, 2017
Length: 370 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781786467317
Vendor :
Google
Languages :
Concepts :
Tools :

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Product Details

Publication date : Oct 05, 2017
Length: 370 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781786467317
Vendor :
Google
Languages :
Concepts :
Tools :

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Table of Contents

16 Chapters
Ride the Lightning with AMP Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Building Your First AMP Page Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Making an Impression - Layout and Page Design in AMP Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Engaging Users with Interactive AMP Components Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Building Rich Media Pages in AMP Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Making Contact - Forms in AMP Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Dynamic Content and Data-Driven Interaction Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Programming in AMP - amp-bind Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
When AMP Is Not Enough - Enter the iframe Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Ads and Analytics in AMP Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
AMP Deployment and Your Web Presence Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
AMP - Where It&#x27;s At and Where It&#x27;s Going Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
AMP Components Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Actions and Events Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
amp-bind Whitelisted Functions Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
amp-bind Permitted Attribute Bindings Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customer reviews

Rating distribution
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
(4 Ratings)
5 star 100%
4 star 0%
3 star 0%
2 star 0%
1 star 0%
Malte Jul 02, 2018
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Creator of AMP here. Since I know most of the things in the book, I didn't read it end to end, but I must say that I was surprised how thorough and useful the book is. It covers the basics, but also goes into pretty deep topics one will need to learn about when building advanced sites (such as e-commerce sites) in AMP. While all this info is out there, it certainly helps to have everything nicely compiled in a single source.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Maurice Nov 15, 2017
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Having built lots of traditional Web properties I needed to learn how to optimise for mobile - AMP being a clear choice due to its pervasiveness. This book was perfect for stepping me through the various steps from the basis to quite advanced concepts - the perfect book at the perfect time!
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Patrick O. Nov 12, 2017
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
I got the book to better understand how my user experience of my website's users could be improved by using AMP. The text is well researched with clear, approachable examples.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
thierry Sep 23, 2019
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Le site et les exemples sont très utiles
Amazon Verified review Amazon
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