Google reveals AMP for delivering faster webpages on smartphones

Google has launched a new initiative that will make the web pages load faster on smartphones. The new open source project is called Accelerated Mobile Pages. It’s basically a new kind of open source HTML code framework that Google is asking publishers and developers to adopt into their websites and apps.

Google today revealed AMP, or Accelerated Mobile Pages project, at a press event in New York. The project is open-sourced and available to any publisher through a Github repository of code. Publishers that use Google’s content units will benefit from faster load time of their mobile Web pages and therefore more prominent display in Google’s search engine results.

This program is open to anyone who wants to participate, said Richard Gringras, Google’s head of news. “One key objective was a deal-less environment,” he said. “That’s how the web works.” Later he added, “There are no business relationships behind the search results.”

Google says the way HTML is rendered in AMP “dramatically improve” the performance of the mobile web by allowing website owners to build lighter-weight web pages without JavaScript. According to Google, by using AMP, publishers can employ caching techniques to essentially pre-fetch and store a web page so it’s loaded on to a user’s device before they even click on it.

In the coming months, Google plans to work with other participants to build more features and functionality based around certain areas. Those areas include:

• Content: The Accelerated Mobile Pages Project provides an open source approach, allowing publishers to focus on producing great content, while relying on the shared components for high performance and great user experience.
• Distribution: So, as part of this effort, we’ve designed a new approach to caching that allows the publisher to continue to host their content while allowing for efficient distribution through Google’s high performance global cache. We intend to open our cache servers to be used by anyone free of charge.
• Advertising: With Accelerated Mobile Pages, we want to support a comprehensive range of ad formats, ad networks and technologies. Any sites using AMP HTML will retain their choice of ad networks, as well as any formats that don’t detract from the user experience. It’s also a core goal of the project to support subscriptions and paywalls.