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How to Implement AMP with HTML

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In the world of the internet, speed is everything. Mobile users have definite expectations regarding load times. How to Implement AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) with HTML is the solution to the key question that arises: how can we increase speed? that’s when Google developed a project called Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) that seeks to solve this challenge.

It lets web pages load nearly instantaneously on mobile devices. Let’s learn how to implement AMP with HTML

AMP is made to create lightweight, mobile-optimized web pages that will offer customers a completely seamless experience, sans a visible compromise in content quality.

If you’re a web developer or site owner, implementing AMP on your website can significantly enhance mobile performance, boost your SEO rankings, and improve user engagement.

In this blog post, we’ll walk through how to implement AMP using HTML and explore the best practices for AMP optimization.

What is AMP?

AMP is an open-source framework that speeds up mobile page loading on the web. It minimizes the web page’s code and loads only the needed elements. 

AMP focuses on speed, responsiveness, and minimalism. It does not support the use of JavaScript but uses custom tags and optimized components, which makes AMP fast at displaying mobile pages.

AMP in displaying different 
mobile pages

The key advantages of using AMP are

  • Fast page loads: AMP pages load up to four times faster than standard mobile pages.
  • Better user experience: Fewer page loads result in a smoother, more engaging experience.
  • SEO advantages: Google favors AMP pages in mobile search, which increases your visibility.

Understanding AMP-HTML

Before creating your AMP pages, you should first know the structure as well as all the components that make AMP pages unique.

AMP Framework Overview

AMP HTML is an extension of standard HTML, but with specific restrictions to improve performance. These include:

Use of a custom <amp> tag to indicate the page is AMP-optimized.

Specific components like <amp-img> and <amp-video> for optimized media.

Restrictions on external JavaScript, meaning you must rely on AMP’s built-in components for interactive features.

The core components of an AMP page are

  • AMP Boilerplate: The essential code that initializes AMP functionality.
  • AMP Components: Custom HTML elements like <amp-img>, <amp-video>, and <amp-iframe> that allow for fast rendering.
  • AMP Scripts: A minimal set of JavaScript libraries that power AMP’s functionality.

Basic AMP HTML Structure

An AMP HTML page follows a basic structure, which is slightly different from regular HTML. 

Here’s a simple example

<!DOCTYPE html>

<html amp>

<head>

  <meta charset="UTF-8">

  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">

  <title>My AMP Page</title>

  <link rel="canonical" href="https://www.example.com/">

  <script async src="https://cdn.ampproject.org/v0.js"></

<style amp-custom>

  /* Your AMP custom CSS here */

</style>

</head>

<body>

  <h1>Welcome to My AMP Website!</h1>

  <p>This page is optimized for fast loading on mobile devices.</p>

  <amp-img src="image.jpg" width="600" height="400" alt="An image" layout="responsive"></amp-img>

</body>

</html>

Creating Your First AMP HTML Page

Creating a simple AMP page requires

Adding the amp attribute to the tag.

<html amp> attribute is added to indicate it’s an AMP page.

<script async src="https://cdn.ampproject.org/v0.js"></script> is required in the <head> to include the AMP JavaScript library.

Use AMP-specific tags like <amp-img>, <amp-video>, etc., instead of regular HTML tags.

AMP requires custom styles within a <style amp-custom> tag

Inline CSS to style your page, keeping the total CSS size below 75 KB.

Here’s a step-by-step breakdown of creating a basic AMP page

  • Set Up the AMP Boilerplate: This includes the AMP script and custom styles.
  • Add Content: Use regular HTML elements like headings and paragraphs, but use AMP-specific components for images and other media.
  • Style the Page: Write custom CSS for the page layout. Keep in mind that AMP limits CSS to a maximum of 75KB.
  • Style the Page: Add custom CSS to style the page layout. Note that AMP limits CSS to 75KB.

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Styling Your AMP Page

AMP has strict rules about CSS to make sure that the page renders quickly. While traditional HTML can use large external stylesheets, AMP does not support the use of external styles. 

Instead, AMP requires inline styles, and all CSS must be declared in the <style amp-custom> section in the <head>.

This is how an AMP page could be styled

<!DOCTYPE html>

<html amp>

<head>

  <meta charset="UTF-8">

  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">

  <title>My AMP Page</title>

  <link rel="canonical" href="https://www.example.com/">

  <script async src="https://cdn.ampproject.org/v0.js"></

<style amp-custom>

  /* Your AMP custom CSS here */

</style>

</head>

<body>

  <h1>Welcome to My AMP Website!</h1>

  <p>This page is optimized for fast loading on mobile devices.</p>

  <amp-img src="image.jpg" width="600" height="400" alt="An image" layout="responsive"></amp-img>

</body>

</html>

Adding Interactivity and Media

AMP natively provides some elements to allow embedding rich media and interactivity into your pages. Some examples are:

Images

Embed with <amp-img> element

<amp-img src="image.jpg" width="600" height="400" alt="A picture" layout="responsive"></amp-img>

Videos

For video embedding use <amp-video>.

<amp-video width="640" height="360" layout="responsive" controls>

<source src="video.mp4" type="video/mp4">

</amp-video>

Social Share Buttons: Using <amp-social-share> element.

<amp-social-share type="twitter"></amp-social-share>

Validating and Testing AMP Pages

AMP pages have to be validated to ensure they adhere to the very high performance and structure requirements of AMP. You can validate AMP pages with the AMP Validator: 

  • AMP Validator: To verify if your AMP page is valid or not, append #development=1 at the end of your URL and check your console for validation errors.
  • Google PageSpeed Insights: It tests the AMP page speed and gives performance recommendations.

Deploying AMP Pages

Once you are ready with your AMP page, you can deploy it on your website. Here’s what you need to do:

Publish the AMP HTML page as a standalone URL.

Use the <link rel=”canonical”> tag to point to the original non-AMP page (if applicable).

SEO Benefits: Google mobile-first indexing favors AMP pages. Proper canonical links, therefore increase the SEO level of your web pages.

Conclusion

With AMP applied using HTML, your website’s performance on mobile will improve greatly, your page loads faster and the user experience increases. When producing the page with AMP guidelines in mind, incorporating optimized components, you obtain a faster and more efficient page that caters to the needs of the mobile-first audience and improves your site’s SEO.

This can also be pursued in the Codeneur Bootcamp, as the hands-on practical training and support of experts could enable you to go from HTML to advanced techniques such as web optimization, where you can cover AMP.

No matter if you are a newbie or looking forward to upgrading your skills, it is your choice to utilize this tool or know-how toward making high-performance sites and being outstanding in this virtual world.

Ready to master web development? Join today and build faster, more mobile-optimized websites that yield results.

FAQ’s

" } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Can I use my existing website design for an AMP page?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Though you might easily customize what you have onto AMP, support for not everything, nor support for all scripts that may apply in your own pages is rendered. AMP actually needs AMP specific components that must alter parts of your layout/behavior for an application." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Do AMP pages work on desktop websites, too?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "AMP pages are targeted at mobile devices so that performance benefits can be maximized on mobile. The same can be adapted to desktop as well, and many of these speed benefits start to show mainly on mobiles." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Are there disadvantages to using AMP?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "YES, AMP imposes some limitations which include: Limited JavaScript: This means you won't be using custom JavaScript for AMP pages-you will have AMP components instead. Design Constraints: There may be some design constraints because of the simplicity of the framework. Tracking & Analytics: Some third-party analytics tools would need to be adapted to AMP." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "How does AMP affect SEO and performance?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "AMP can improve SEO by increasing page load speeds, which is a key ranking factor for mobile searches. Google favors fast-loading pages, especially in mobile search results, and AMP can give you a ranking boost. It also improves user experience, leading to lower bounce rates and higher engagement." } } ] }
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