AMP for XenForo 2.2

[Aayush]

After the long discussion here: https://xenforo.com/community/threads/implement-amp-project-framework.106501/ I've decided to implement AMP addon compatible with XenForo 2.2.

I am yet to do market research on what is expected so I'm hoping that this community will be helpful in providing insights into what they need to built. Specific examples of what you'd like the addon to support and whether you will be willing to pay $50(one-time fee for it for an year of updates)? Knowing that would be helpful.

What I have right now:

AMP - a web component framework to easily create user-first web experiences

Whether you are a publisher, e-commerce company, storyteller, advertiser or email sender, AMP makes it easy to create great experiences on the web. Use AMP to build websites, stories, ads and emails.

amp.dev

I'd really appreciate if you all can give specific examples of things, you'd like the addon to support so I can keep that in mind while building it.

Feel free to add your suggestion below or continue the conversation on https://forumapps.net/community/forums/amp-project.18/ so I can better organize the information. Let's see if we can get this going!




EDIT: If you voted YES or NO above, please add a comment below as to why you made that decision. It's pure waste of time, AMP sucks or AMP is the best invention since baked bread. I'd love to know your thoughts.

 

[JoyFreak]

After the long discussion here: https://xenforo.com/community/threads/implement-amp-project-framework.106501/ I've decided to implement AMP addon compatible with XenForo 2.2.

I am yet to do market research on what is expected so I'm hoping that this community will be helpful in providing insights into what they need to built. Specific examples of what you'd like the addon to support and whether you will be willing to pay $50(one-time fee for it)? Knowing that would be helpful.

What I have right now:

AMP - a web component framework to easily create user-first web experiences

Whether you are a publisher, e-commerce company, storyteller, advertiser or email sender, AMP makes it easy to create great experiences on the web. Use AMP to build websites, stories, ads and emails.

amp.dev

I'd really appreciate if you all can give specific examples of things, you'd like the addon to support so I can keep that in mind while building it.

Feel free to add your suggestion below or continue the conversation on https://forumapps.net/community/forums/amp-project.18/ so I can better organize the information. Let's see if we can get this going!

I would buy it but $50 is a bit much. If its a one-time fee where you would receive updates for a lifetime then it doesn't sound so bad. I'm comparing the price with the price of another add-on that was available called SEO 2 which had so much more other features and I believe that was for a lot less. Good luck!

 

[Aayush]

another add-on that was available called SEO 2

What's that addon? Edited the original post clarifying the duration of free updates.

 

[JoyFreak]

What's that addon?

The author has deleted it due to personal reasons but you can find the thread here https://xenforo.com/community/threads/seo-seo2-deleted.141984/

 

[JulianD]

Well my number one request would be that I don't get invalid markup on random pages. The other add-on had that problem and there was nothing I could do.

I would also like to have a way to customize the way that the amp page looks in my site. For example to customize the colors regardless of the design of the forum.

 

[Aayush]

Well my number one request would be that I don't get invalid markup on random pages. The other add-on had that problem and there was nothing I could do.

Do you have screenshots of what those errors were?

I would also like to have a way to customize the way that the amp page looks in my site. For example to customize the colors regardless of the design of the forum.

This is interesting

 

[JoyFreak]

You could also extend the add-on and include a Google News sitemap, integrated with XenForo.

 

[Aayush]

Google News sitemap

Any links to describe what that is exactly and how that would help? From what I understand a lot of forums aren't really news website.

 

[Aayush]

Question: Can you make a post or reply from a thread with AMP or is it just read only?

 

[briansol]

I voted no, but i could be swayed to change my vote. (I am not a news site)

key features would be

• functional js changes
• conical links
• sitemap
• validator tool like WP has that shows pages that aren't valid amp pages

 

[JoyFreak]

Any links to describe what that is exactly and how that would help? From what I understand a lot of forums aren't really news website.

That's because XenForo has lacked in AMS. There hasn't been any good add-ons other than one but seems to be private and hard to find. However, since 2.2, XenForo has introduced an article thread type and I've seen people including news sections on their website, so we'll probably see numbers rise overtime.

Here's a Google doc on how to create a Google News sitemap. It looks simple but not sure how hard it is to integrate it with XenForo. Having an option would be great as some of us do have a news portion on our site. https://support.google.com/news/publisher-center/answer/9606710?hl=en-GB

 

[Aayush]

That's because XenForo has lacked in AMS. There hasn't been any good add-ons other than one but seems to be private and hard to find. However, since 2.2, XenForo has introduced an article thread type and I've seen people including news sections on their website, so we'll probably see numbers rise overtime.

Here's a Google doc on how to create a Google News sitemap. It looks simple but not sure how hard it is to integrate it with XenForo. Having an option would be great as some of us do have a news portion on our site. https://support.google.com/news/publisher-center/answer/9606710?hl=en-GB

Yes, I understand the need for this but it's swaying away from our goal i.e. AMP. Seems to me like a different addon which can improve for SEO news site. At the moment, the goal is to build support for AMP. That could evolve into a full SEO suite but too early to commit to that, but sure keep your ideas flowing!

key features would be

• functional js changes
• conical links
• sitemap
• validator tool like WP has that shows pages that aren't valid amp pages

To be honest I don't know what any of it means apart from Sitemap and is that what @JoyFreak referred to with News Sitemap?
Would appreciate if you can provide examples of your feature requests.

 

[JoyFreak]

Yes, I understand the need for this but it's swaying away from our goal i.e. AMP. Seems to me like a different addon which can improve for SEO news site. At the moment, the goal is to build support for AMP. That could evolve into a full SEO suite but too early to commit to that, but sure keep your ideas flowing!



To be honest I don't know what any of it means apart from Sitemap and is that what @JoyFreak referred to with News Sitemap?
Would appreciate if you can provide examples of your feature requests.

AMP ties in with Google News/Sitemap. It'd be a shame not to include it. I'd imagine a lot who will ask for this add-on will also look for this to be added too.

 

[briansol]

Thinking on this more, all we really need is a plugin that handles ?rel=amp to any url and sends it to a stripped out template set that is amp compatible and from that template set, reverts back to the core url as conical.

no sitemap needed.

 

[arn]

Ya, I think you all are overthinking it.

Here's the bare minimum:

• Add "amphtml" meta tag to regular thread pages to point to the ?amp url
• ?amp url needs to show thread data with all javascript stripped out. Essentially a read-only page.
• You will need to translate various bbcode embeds into amp equialvents. YouTube, Instagram, img tags.
• One challenge is you need explicit image dimensions for <img> tags. Height and width. You can't leave those blank, and I don't think xenforo provides those.

No sitemaps, no newsmaps.

arn

 

[Aayush]

Ya, I think you all are overthinking it.

Here's the bare minimum:

• Add "amphtml" meta tag to regular thread pages to point to the ?amp url
• ?amp url needs to show thread data with all javascript stripped out. Essentially a read-only page.
• You will need to translate various bbcode embeds into amp equialvents. YouTube, Instagram, img tags.
• One challenge is you need explicit image dimensions for <img> tags. Height and width. You can't leave those blank, and I don't think xenforo provides those.

No sitemaps, no newsmaps.

arn

So these are just pages to view threads.

 

[arn]

So these are just pages to view threads.

Yes. That's going to be the bulk of the benefit.

 

[Andro]

So these are just pages to view threads.

AMP is mostly beneficial for content pages i.e. thread view page.

It's good to have a backend control over what type of pages to include as AMP if you are planning to implement AMP outside of the thread view page (such as forum/thread listings, account area, help etc.).

Another useful and SEO friendly feature would be implementation of Schema markup on AMP pages the same way XF has implemented on thread view pages. It helps to show your site in a better way on the search results.

Question: Can you make a post or reply from a thread with AMP or is it just read only?

Replies are possible I guess. One of the AMP plugin has comments form feature on WordPress.

Initially you should aim to make AMP pages read-only IMO, because the motive behind AMP is loading speed (a search engine ranking factor - of course if your content quality is good enough) which is why Google also recommends it. AMP ain't replacement of full view pages, they are just a bloat free version of original pages with identical UI.

If later on you get requests for posting options through AMP, it's upto you. According to me, AMP should be kept as lightweight as possible for best optimized results.

Do you have screenshots of what those errors were?

Please check this doc to find out Google specific AMP erros:

Google-specific AMP Issues - Search Console Help

Issue Description Content mismatch: Missing embedded video

support.google.com

General AMP validation errors:

AMP validation errors

Valid AMP documents must not include any validation errors. The purpose of this document is to help you better understand and fix any validation errors ...

amp.dev

 

[Aayush]

Replies are possible i guess. One of the WP AMP plugin has comments form feature.

Thanks for sharing this.

While the Comments are an essential part of a website, it is also complex to implement in the AMP.

Yikes.

 

[Mendalla]

The more I read about AMP, the less interested I get, at least for my current site. So I am not currently interested in paying extra for it. We are a small, non-commercial site and run pretty lean and mean financially (as in, all donations from members interested in helping keep the doors open and the lights on). Any new expense has to have an obvious benefit and I don't see one for us with AMP (other sites may vary).

Might that change if/when the day comes that I run a site of my own (I am basically running Wondercafe2 on behalf of the community)? Perhaps. I would have to delve deeper once I have a plan in mind.