The development of the official AMP plugin for WordPress has gone a long way since the start of its development about two years ago. The initial versions of the plugin were developed by Automattic, and later on Google and XWP joined forces to bring the plugin to this point, the release of the stable 1.0 version. With this version, the AMP plugin provides many features and capabilities that enable AMP content creation in WordPress in a way that is seamlessly integrated with the standard content creation workflows in the platform, both in the context of the Classic editor, as well as Gutenberg.
The key features and capabilities of the plugin include:
A Compatibility tool, designed to assist the development of AMP experiences by enabling an AMP debugging workflow based on exposing extensive and detailed information about validation errors that may exist, the markup/scripts causing them, and the specific components on site (e.g theme, plugin, core) bearing the responsibility of that page content.
CSS Tree Shaking functionality, part of the CSS processing capabilities of the plugin, designed to assist in the handling of cases where the set of defined CSS rules in a given site exceeds the maximum limited permitted on single AMP pages.
Support for several core themes, enabling full AMP compatibility for several of the latest default themes, including the new Twenty Nineteen theme.
Gutenberg support, enabling AMP content creation fully integrated with Gutenberg, the new and powerful editing experience in WordPress.
Native AMP experiences support, enabling full-site AMP experiences without sacrificing the flexibility of the platform, or the fidelity of content.
A myriad of code, performance, and developer experience improvements: from customization flexibility, to better UI flows, internationalization, accessibility, etc. Check the full list in the release post.
With these capabilities, the official AMP plugin for WordPress provides the WordPress ecosystem with the capabilities and tools it needs to build world-class AMP experiences without deviating from its standard, flexible, and well-known content creation workflow.
Means to an End
The official AMP Plugin for WordPress is designed as a key enabling technology to support ubiquitous AMP experiences in WordPress. However, the plugin is not, by itself, a turn-key solution for the automatic conversion of non-AMP experiences into AMP experiences. Instead, the plugin enables a future where following takes place:
- The power of the large and vibrant WordPress developer ecosystem is provided with the capabilities/tools they need to develop world-class AMP experiences, including new formats such as AMP Stories.
- Site owners can easily find AMP-compatible components to assemble full sites when selecting plugins from WordPress.org plugins/themes page (there is a filter to select them)
- There are turn-key solutions for any site owner to provide awesome AMP experiences regardless of their level of savviness
- High-quality AMP content in WordPress-powered sites is ubiquitous
- Solution providers and implementers are engaged and capable of building high-level solutions for different market segments
These are the goals unlocked by the official AMP plugin for WordPress by providing everyone in the ecosystem with the ability to build modern websites and offer an awesome UX to their users in an easy and efficient way. The official AMP plugin for WordPress is the means to that end, the key enabling component to make this possible.
The Journey Ahead
The journey ahead is one along the road of ecosystem adoption. As we advance on this road, more plugins and themes will be available with full AMP-compatibility provided out-of-the-box, and site owners will easily find AMP-compatible components to assemble full sites when selecting plugins from WordPress.org plugins/themes page.
In the future, we expect there to be turn-key solutions site owners can leverage to easily provide awesome AMP experiences regardless of their level of savviness. Our ultimate aim is for high-quality AMP content in WordPress-powered sites to be ubiquitous.
Join us as we continue on this journey and please share your feedback on the latest release. We’re enthusiastic about the potential the plugin has to improve the user experience on the web and look forward to what is ahead.