The AMP Project is an open-source initiative aiming to make the web better for all. The project enables the creation of websites and ads that are consistently fast, beautiful and high-performing across devices and distribution platforms.
AMP pages are built with 3 core components:
AMP HTML is a way to build web pages that render with reliable and fast performance. It is our attempt at fixing what many perceive as painfully slow page load times – especially when reading content on the mobile web. AMP HTML is built on existing web technologies; an AMP page will load (quickly) in any modern browser.
You can learn more at ampproject.org including what AMP is, how it works and the importance of validation in AMP. You can also walk through creating an AMP page and read through the reference docs.
The AMP JS library ensures the fast rendering of AMP HTML pages.
The AMP JS library implements all of AMP’s best performance practices, manages resource loading and gives you the custom tags mentioned above, all to ensure a fast rendering of your page.
Among the biggest optimizations is the fact that it makes everything that comes from external resources asynchronous, so nothing in the page can block anything from rendering.
Other performance techniques include the sandboxing of all iframes, the pre-calculation of the layout of every element on page before resources are loaded and the disabling of slow CSS selectors.
To learn more about not just the optimizations but the limitations, read the AMP HTML specification.
The Google AMP Cache can be used to serve cached AMP HTML pages.
The Google AMP Cache is a proxy-based content delivery network for delivering all valid AMP documents. It fetches AMP HTML pages, caches them, and improves page performance automatically. When using the Google AMP Cache, the document, all JS files and all images load from the same origin that is using HTTP 2.0 for maximum efficiency.
The cache also comes with a built-in validation system which confirms that the page is guaranteed to work, and that it doesn’t depend on external resources. The validation system runs a series of assertions confirming the page’s markup meets the AMP HTML specification.
Another version of the validator comes bundled with every AMP page. This version can log validation errors directly to the browser’s console when the page is rendered, allowing you to see how complex changes in your code might impact performance and user experience.