AMPing up Drupal

In many cases, the mobile web is a slow and frustrating experience. The Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) Project which involves Google is an open source initiative that embodies the vision that publishers can create mobile optimized content once and have it load instantly everywhere. When AMP was first introduced last October 2015, many commentators immediately compared it to Facebook's Instant Articles and Apple's News app. One of the biggest differentiators between AMP and other solutions is the fact that AMP is open source.

AMP is, essentially, a subset of HTML. And it really makes the web fast. AMP HTML 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.

In January 2016 Lullabot and Google started working together to create the Drupal AMP module and to benefit the whole of the AMP Project. One of the most touted features of the Drupal software is its flexibility, so making Drupal produce AMP HTML has required a lot of careful consideration of the design approach. Nevertheless, the Drupal AMP module is a turnkey solution that allows publishers to easily deliver AMP content. It is also a work in progress.

While AMP HTML is already being served by some of the biggest publishers and platforms in the world — such as The New York Times, The Economist, The Guardian, BBC, Vox Media, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and many more! — you don’t have to be a large publisher to take advantage of AMP. Come to this session to find out more about AMP, the Drupal AMP module, and why you will want to install this module on your Drupal website.