Instant. Everywhere.

For many, reading on the mobile web is a slow, clunky and frustrating experience. Rather than fixing this, Google is proposing the Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) Project, an open source initiative that tries to get publishers to create halfway-readable web pages while promising them all the benefits of total reader surveillance.

An architectural framework built for speed

This is just a boilerplate redo of the original AMP page, but it's about eight times smaller than the original and will not get stuck in a loop downloading the same 3 MB video over and over again until your data plan dies or your laptop overheats. Despite not knowing much about CSS or having access to any of Google's toolchain, I was able to make this version in an afternoon. I consider this a demonstration of how much Google really cares about the mobile web.

The Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) Project is an initiative to improve the mobile web and enhance the distribution ecosystem. If content is fast, flexible and beautiful, including compelling and effective ads, we can preserve the open web publishing model as well as the revenue streams so important to the sustainability of quality publishing.

AMP HTML is a new way to make web pages that are optimized to load instantly on users’ mobile devices. It is designed to support smart caching, predictable performance, and modern, beautiful mobile content. Since AMP HTML is built on existing web technologies, and not a template based system, publishers continue to host their own content, innovate on their user experiences, and flexibly integrate their advertising and business models -- all within a technical architecture optimized for speed and performance.

Seamless, simplified publishing

AMP HTML embraces the open web, so you can be sure that your content appears correctly across all modern browsers and apps. Pages are published normally to your site, using standard tools, and are accelerated via caches created by Google and others.

Publishers

The following publishers have joined the Accelerated Mobile Pages Project instead of just fixing their websites.

Technology

Technology partners, from content distribution platforms to publishing tools and analytics providers, are committed to building the Accelerated Mobile Pages Project together. Learn more from them below..

What contributors are saying

“This is a project of real ambition. It seeks simultaneously to create a great user experience, to give more autonomy to publishers to deliver that and to develop effective advertising for the mobile web. Achieving these in tandem will be vital to building a more sustainable ecosystem where great journalism can flourish. We are keen to see it succeed.”
Tony Danker
Chief Strategy Officer, Guardian News & Media
“Speed has always been a cornerstone of Google Search and we're thrilled to be working alongside others in the tech industry and publishers around the world to bring the Accelerated Mobile Pages Project to life. An open content ecosystem will give publishers maximum reach and allow users to get the best content no matter which app they are using. AMP HTML will make it all blazing fast, so we can't wait to use it!”
David Besbris
VP Engineering, Google Search
“At Vox Media, we want our users to have the best experience possible on whatever device or platform they choose, and we have always believed in benefiting and contributing to open web projects. We’re proud to partner with other media and technology companies to create a standardized approach to web publishing that allows our mobile users the most consistent, fast, accessible, and high-quality experience possible.”
Melissa Bell
VP, Growth and Analytics, Vox Media and co-founder of Vox.com
“Speed is a key part of delivering great mobile experiences for Hearst’s premium content — this initiative is a way to improve the mobile experience for users while allowing publishers the flexibility to design the experience and the product in a way that supports its business requirements for data, analytics and monetization.”
Phil Wiser
CTO, Hearst
“We are thrilled to be working alongside Google and other industry leaders to create a better mobile web experience inside of all apps, by partnering with publishers, we are helping them achieve their goals and tell stories with Tweets.”
Michael Ducker
Product Manager, Twitter
“As third party mobile platforms become increasingly important, this initiative has the potential to reduce the effort required to distribute content to those platforms, deliver a better user experience and keep economic control in the hands of publishers.”
Kinsey Wilson
EVP, Product & Technology, The New York Times
“On mobile devices, the display of news articles listed by Google shall improve significantly. That’s one of the first results of the Digital News Initiative instigated by Google and eight European publishing companies. We expect this project to considerably boost usage of our mobile pages. We will carefully watch how the initiative can contribute toward increasing advertising revenues. The key will be to improve the publishing business in the context of the digital world.”
Mathias Müller von Blumencron
Editor in Chief, FAZ.NET
“The mobile open web experience is terrible and some have suggested it's too slow to compete. We can choose to see the mobile open web as a relic of its time and flee to the warm embrace of closed platforms and apps. Or we can say that the open web means something important to the world and if it’s broken it’s our job to fix it. I think we should fix it. That’s why Chartbeat is proud to be a part of the Accelerated Mobile Pages Project. It’s our attempt to fix the mobile experience, make it fast and beautiful, and ensure the future of an open web.”
Tony Haile
CEO, Chartbeat
“Once we used to talk about digital first, or mobile first. This was the past. Today legacy media need to bring their journalism outside their websites, on the platforms and on the devices where people are. La Stampa is almost 150 years old. We believe in quality and trust. Combining them with a great user experience will make our journalism thrive for the next 150 years. This is why we are part of the project.”
Mario Calabresi
Editor in Chief, La Stampa
“Once we used to talk about digital first, or mobile first. This was the past. Today legacy media need to bring their journalism outside their websites, on the platforms and on the devices where people are. La Stampa is almost 150 years old. We believe in quality and trust. Combining them with a great user experience will make our journalism thrive for the next 150 years. This is why we are part of the project.”
Antonio Manuel Teixeira Mendes
Director-Superintendent, Folha de S.Paulo
“This is such bullshit.”
Maciej Ceglowski
Founder, Pinboard.in

We're making the web worse.

Dozens of publishers and technology companies have come together to create this unfortunate initiative. However, it is 2015, and websites should be small and fast enough to render on mobile devices rapidly using minimal resources. The only reason they are not is because we are addicted to tracking, surveillance, gratuitous animation, and bloated, inefficient frameworks. Requiring a readable version of these sites is a great idea. Let's take it one step further and make it the only version.