
Chrome and Safari extensions to view AMP versions on the desktop - edlea
https://github.com/edlea/DesktopAMP
======
edlea
The timing of Google's AMP project is especially interesting considering the
recent attention ad blockers have received.

By limiting the functionality of pages, AMP makes them load faster, but also
allows publishers to include ads. The ads however, can't run JavaScript (or
Flash) and so should be a lot less obnoxious.

There's no reason to only use AMP on mobile though - AMP content renders
equally well, and fast, on the desktop. These extensions for Safari and Chrome
will redirect to AMP URLs for content that has them.

~~~
Navarr
In practice it's after the content has loaded.. so you get the lack of
advertising and junk but.. a decent increase in load speed.

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gorhill
Using this means `ampproject.org` will be able to build a profile of your
browsing history to any of the AMP partners' web sites.

I suppose referrer spoofing could help mitigate this, but then I suppose other
browser fingerprinting techniques, if any, could counter this. Bottomline,
having one server contribute resources to all the pages you visit is a
significant threat to privacy.

Just using a competent blocker nowadays easily takes care of the page load
speed issues -- which is the advertised benefit of AMP.

Addendum: basically, if you are already using an extension which purpose is to
reduce privacy exposure, installing this extension (DesktopAMP) is self-
defeating.

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devit
So the AMP project just launched (with apparently unclear benefits and future
outlook) and already BBC and BuzzFeed are publishing content using it.

Did Google specifically work with them on it? What are they getting from
supporting it now? Are they just being paid?

~~~
xg15
At the risk of becoming somewhat conspiracy-theorist-like, a possible benefit
might be this: (from the ampproject.org FAQ)

 _How will advertising work on Accelerated Mobile Pages? (...) As part of
that, those involved with the project are also engaged in crafting Sustainable
Ad Practices to insure that ads in AMP files are fast, safe, compelling and
effective for users._

If Google should at one point choose to block all non-AMP-compliant ads in
Chrome, it might be a good idea to get into the boat early when "AMP-
compliant" is still in the process of being defined.

~~~
hewhowhineth
It's even better idea to boycott it. Embrace-extend-extinguish may work for a
big player but it will harm everyone else. We've been there before.

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fibo
AMP idea sounds good but it does not convince me that it is mandatory to
include amp.js via CDN. Why not via bower or other package manager? It it also
clear that Google Will push it by giving higher search ranking to sites that
implement AMP, and also has a partnership with Google. In fact I am working as
a consultant for an italian newspaper and their competitor was contacted by
Google to be an early adopter and partner.

Aside that it looks ok, and probably I will make my blog AMP compliant.

~~~
untog
_AMP idea sounds good but it does not convince me that it is mandatory to
include amp.js via CDN. Why not via bower or other package manager?_

I think the point is that amp.js will be preloaded anyway, so including it in
your package manager means it is downloading content it already has.

~~~
fibo
I don't get your point, I'll try to explain better. I mean, instead of an
amp.js link to a CDN, doing in my project

. bower install amp

and serving it statically from my server. Why not? Maybe cause Google want to
create an audience of people using AMP on their devices.

~~~
untog
_Why not?_

Because it's wasted bandwidth. AMP can easily intercept the CDNed version and
serve a cached copy. If it's part of your bower build, it can't.

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mmastrac
The README is a bit confusing as to the purpose of the extension until you
read the linked site explaining what AMP is:
[https://www.ampproject.org/](https://www.ampproject.org/). This tech post
also helps a bit: [https://www.ampproject.org/how-it-
works/](https://www.ampproject.org/how-it-works/)

My first impression is that the whole thing is kind of a gross hack on top of
HTML. I get that there's a lot of work you don't need to do when you do it
this way, but this likely won't survive long.

We have a perfectly good container format called Atom that could have done the
job here. Instead of hacking and slashing at HTML, why not define an AMP
markup language and well-specify the transformation to HTML?

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untog
I don't really get AMP. It proposes increasing page load speeds by limiting
what content you can add - no JS, custom fonts, etc... is it really that
surprising that a page with no JS will load quicker than one with? If I just
strip out the JS from my page, why do I need AMP?

~~~
evolve2k
From my quick reading,. So that Google still gets paid in an Apple adblocked
world.

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caiob
Yet another way to rub their native app in my face before I can even get to
their web app.

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fullbyte
Chrome Web Store reports 0 users have donwloaded the app so far... what a
hype.

~~~
r1ch
Not too surprising given the permissions require complete access to
everything. Not gonna trust a random extension not to steal all my logins.

~~~
paulirish
While I totally understand your concern, it's not too hard to view the
contents of a Chrome extension before installing:
[https://gist.github.com/paulirish/78d6c1406c901be02c2d](https://gist.github.com/paulirish/78d6c1406c901be02c2d)

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hewhowhineth
Can we please stop pretending that this has anything to do with loading pages
faster?

Stop breaking the web. It's stupid. You can try to just shove the ads down
someone's throat but you're in for a surprise, again. Any attempt to force it
will actually hurt the advertising. People don't hate ads. People hate
obnoxious, obtrusive ads that bloat the page to the point of making it
completely useless and the whole experience fruitless frustration.

Non-obtrusive ads work just fine. I know that for a fact, they pay my bills.

