Wanted to discuss about this AMP framework by Google. I have developed with it for my company and have been having mixed feelings about it.

On one end, it gives you the power of Google cache, declarative layout and all.
But still, it seems to be too restrictive and filled with bizarre rules that often could have been avoided if they just made guidelines for normal "web pages" to be better and not yet another framework to build "AMP pages".

One more (and probably the biggest) thing. AMP is Open Source... But can it be really considered Open if the biggest player in its development is a single corporation?

My criticism:
- With AMP, people may never leave Google without realizing it (especially since Cloudflare presents the "signed key exchange" to present the original URL).
- 3rd party support is quite limited to big platforms: Ads, analytics, social media includes. You can still use iFrames, but it requires additional work.
- All JavaScript for AMP is from Google. Google's privacy policy applies.
- Support for viewing AMP pages without JavaScript must be added manually, as the custom AMP tags are not supported by "normal" browsers by default.

Sure, it has its pros:
- Faster page loads (mostly by using the Google or Cloudflare cache)...
- Some SEO.

If you don't follow the standard, you are loosing the most of the advantages: No caching anymore and the SEO dismisses - so much to the 'open' standard (it's transparent, but not more).

@irene with AMP it's different. It's a standard from Google and for Google Search benefits. I don't see a point in forking the damn thing when it's most important benefits are all tied to one platform - Google's serps

@sbiewald E X A C T L Y

@irene :) that's always appreciated.