Google AMP Support

AMP is a Google project aimed at improving the performance of mobile web content. It consists of:

  • A small number of custom HTML tags

  • An associated Javascript library

  • A set of rules and conventions governing the HTML code allowed in AMP documents

AMP pages are inherently well-suited to display on mobile devices and transport over low-bandwidth connections, and will in general render significantly faster than plain HTML/Javascript pages. They are also given preferential treatment by the Google search engine in some respects (AMP news stories get displayed in the Google news carousel on mobile devices, for example).

At the same time, AMP imposes significant restrictions on what can be included in an HTML document – no Javascript other than the AMP library is allowed, for example – so you might not want to be limited by AMP for the production of desktop pages. It is therefore common practice to generate two web site versions: a default site for desktop/laptop devices, and an AMP site for mobile devices.

The Widget Framework makes it very easy to generate an AMP version of a publication alongside a desktop publication by providing an amp content profile (see Content Profiles). The standard desktop pages are generated using the Widget Framework's default content profile, and AMP pages are generated using the amp profile.

For general information about content profiles and how to use them, see Content Profiles. The following sections contain specific advice on how to use the amp profile to produce AMP pages.