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Google AMP Cache, AMP Lite, and the Need for Speed

developers.googleblog.com

31–40 of 247 posts

Re: Google AMP Cache, AMP Lite, and the Need for Speed

#31
post #26

To everyone who's against AMP - try opening any article on an extremely slow 2G connection when you're travelling and try the same with AMP. The difference is night and day. You may be against some principles, but it's an absolute life-saver sometimes.

Just having a cookie-based opt-out would be fine. I don't want AMP but I won't presume to know what other Internet users want.

Google is presuming to know what I want and it is irritating.

Re: Google AMP Cache, AMP Lite, and the Need for Speed

#32

I'm against AMP simply because it doesn't work with Safari on iOS. In fact, I switched to DuckDuckGo as a default search engine because less accurate search is still better than a list of accurate results that simply don't open.

Can you detail the issues you've had with AMP pages? I use Safari on iOS 10.2 daily and have never noticed an issue loading AMP pages.

Re: Google AMP Cache, AMP Lite, and the Need for Speed

#33
post #11

"At Google we believe in designing products with speed as a core principle. The Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) format helps ensure that content reliably loads fast [...]" Yeah, that's certainly one way to look at it. Yet in my book, the "AMP 'format'" (emph. mine), above all, ensures the continued assimilation of the open web, and with it most of ad revenue collected there, into the huge moloch that is Google (and it…

i agree, but i don't think google is 100% to blame. The web-designers etc. have failed to provide fast, mobile optimised pages that perform the same optimisation that google now produces. Google is just taking advantage of the neglect for providing a mobile-friendly, bandwith-adapting web experience.

Re: Google AMP Cache, AMP Lite, and the Need for Speed

#34
To me AMP feels like embrace and extend for the whole mobile web. I find them caching things this way both pointless and dangerous. I find it hard to believe that publishers so readily lifted up their skirt for Google controlling their content... however I suppose search engine rankings are everything now.

EDIT Also I'd add further that at some point, this "free" and compulsory AMP cache will start inserting google ads directly into pages and Google will pay publishers a small percentage of what those slots are worth.

Re: Google AMP Cache, AMP Lite, and the Need for Speed

#35

AMP is breaking the web, and while it offers great speed, I think the consequences of breaking and hijacking all urls greatly outweighs the advantages. Really can't be in favor of it until those issues are fixed.

AMP offers no more or less speed than standard HTML. Even on a slow connection, the majority of that slowness is due to the last mile, not because it takes a long time to get data from Europe to Australia.

It really is only about getting yet another way to collect data on users and push ads down their throats.

Re: Google AMP Cache, AMP Lite, and the Need for Speed

#36
I hate AMP. Not even kind of, I mean so much I've started using Bing (DuckDuckGo hasn't been so useful for me).

Beyond the distasteful navigation hijacking, and often broken or buggy page loading... I think Google throwing its weight around to force publishers to use it is an abusive use of power. I also think it's an unnecessary standard since it's nothing more than simple well wittten HTML and CSS.

Yes, we should make less shitty (meaning bloated) web pages that are rendered server side especially for mobile clients-- but that doesn't mean that if we don't we should be second class citizens.

More and more Googles search results are being materially affected by this choice. That is to say, AMP pages with no or little significance to my query are pushed to the top; while, relevant ones are not to be found. I find this primarily true with historical content or localized content where the host/author/org doesn't spend time updating things that aren't broken. Further, the companies prone to adopting AMP are doing as many things as they can simply to generate more traffic (i.e. click bait). So it's a race to the top for advertisers/media companies and a race to the bottom for quality results.

I will resume using google IFF they allow me to permanently opt out of AMP otherwise I will begin the slow arduous migration off all Google services.

Google trying to be the source of content instead of the guide to content will be its downfall from the top. I'm not saying they'll go out of business just that they'll someday be made less relevant from it.

Re: Google AMP Cache, AMP Lite, and the Need for Speed

#37
post #26

To everyone who's against AMP - try opening any article on an extremely slow 2G connection when you're travelling and try the same with AMP. The difference is night and day. You may be against some principles, but it's an absolute life-saver sometimes.

The publisher can trivially create a light website which loads just as quickly as the AMP version.

Re: Google AMP Cache, AMP Lite, and the Need for Speed

#38

There is zero reason for AMP to be hijacking URLs or embedding any additional elements into a page that are detectable by the average user. Beyond that, universal opt-out should be possible and stats on the percentage of users opting out should be published real-time. As such, until this is addressed, I am against AMP.

On ios safari, holding down the refresh button in the url bar gives you the option to request the desktop site.

As kludgy as that is, I've found it a worthwhile workaround until this is fixed.

Re: Google AMP Cache, AMP Lite, and the Need for Speed

#39
I have a bad feeling. Google is creating a proprietary version of the mobile Internet, a layer between them and us. Looking at the specs, it's open but paired with the AMP cache and Google's ranking algorithm which already clearly prefers AMPed pages it doesn't feel like a free choice.

What if I don't want to use Google's AMP cache and rather my own CDN? What if I don't want this useless AMP banner at the top of my AMPed pages which takes 25% of the screen estate for nothing? What if I can build fast mobile sites without following the AMP spec?

Re: Google AMP Cache, AMP Lite, and the Need for Speed

#40
To me AMP feels like embrace and extend for the whole mobile web. I find them caching things this way both pointless and dangerous. I find it hard to believe that publishers so readily lifted up their skirt for Google controlling their content... however I suppose search engine rankings are everything now.
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