Integrate Web Stories in non-AMP pages
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Web Stories are a full-screen immersive content experience that user’s tap or click through at their own pace. They live on the open web with their own URL, making them easily shareable. This guide teaches you how to integrate Web Stories in a non-AMP page and surface them to readers.
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<script
async
src="https://cdn.ampproject.org/amp-story-player-v0.js"
></script>
<link
href="https://cdn.ampproject.org/amp-story-player-v0.css"
rel="stylesheet"
type="text/css"
/>
<style>
header {
height: 8vh;
color: #545454;
background-color: #DDB556;
display: flex;
align-items: center;
justify-content: center;
}
amp-story-player {
margin: 1rem auto;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<header>
<h1>
Page Header
</h1>
</header>
<h1>
Article Title
</h1>
<p>
Doggo ipsum smol wow very biscit length boy, doing me a frighten. Borking
doggo doggo heckin dat tungg tho, heckin good boys. Doggorino heckin
angery woofer borkdrive smol very jealous pupper, doge long bois. Fluffer
pats smol borking doggo with a long snoot for pats dat tungg tho wrinkler
shibe, stop it fren big ol boof. Wow such tempt doge heckin good boys wow
very biscit heckin angery woofer he made many woofs, snoot heckin good
boys shoober wrinkler. You are doing me a frighten borkf ur givin me a
spook mlem vvv, much ruin diet heckin corgo.
</p>
<amp-story-player style="width: 370px; height: 622px;">
<script type="application/json">
{
"behavior": {
"autoplay": true
}
}
</script>
<a
href="https://preview.amp.dev/documentation/examples/introduction/stories_in_amp/"
>
<img data-amp-story-player-poster-img src="https://amp.dev/static/samples/img/story_dog2_portrait.jpg" width="370" height="622" loading="lazy">
Stories in AMP - Hello World
</a>
</amp-story-player>
<p>
Such treat big ol pupper. Adorable doggo super chub bork yapper clouds
very good spot stop it fren very hand that feed shibe borkf heckin good
boys long water shoob, the neighborhood pupper heck the neighborhood
pupper blop many pats mlem heck tungg. noodle horse. Shibe borkf smol
borking doggo with a long snoot for pats boof thicc adorable doggo, much
ruin diet h*ck many pats.
</p>
</body>
</html>
Include the Web Story Player
Web Stories rely on the AMP Story Player, in the form of the <amp-story-player>
element, to integrate and play stories on non-AMP sites. Implement the amp-story-player
element by including the following two scripts in the head of your document:
<script async src="https://cdn.ampproject.org/amp-story-player-v0.js"></script>
<link href="https://cdn.ampproject.org/amp-story-player-v0.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css">
The first script imports the logic for the AMP Story Player. The second script sets the default styling.
After including each script, include an <amp-story-player>
element inside the document body.
<amp-story-player style="width: 370px; height: 622px;">
<a
href="https://preview.amp.dev/documentation/examples/introduction/stories_in_amp/"
>
<img data-amp-story-player-poster-img src="https://amp.dev/static/samples/img/story_dog2_portrait.jpg" width="370" height="622" loading="lazy">
Stories in AMP - Hello World
</a>
</amp-story-player>
Size the Web Story Player
We recommend making the Web Story Player full-screen when possible. This keeps readers immersed in story content while adding the extra functionality the player provides. Add the skip to next control for the best desktop full-screen experience.
In cases where full-screen is not possible, you can size the Web Story Player as you would any other HTML element. You may define the story player's width, height, and other styles inline or as you would any other element's style.
<body>
...
<amp-story-player style="width: 370px; height: 622px;">
...
</amp-story-player>
...
</body>
We recommend maintaining a 69:116 aspect ratio for the best user experience, but you may define any width and height.
Responsive sizing
The story player's responsiveness works as any other block element. Use CSS to maintain width and height ratios, such as the example below: html
<amp-story-player style="width: 50vw; height: 84.05vw;">
...
</amp-story-player>
Display a Web Story
Link to a Web Story by including an <a>
tag with the href
attribute pointed to the desired Web Story URL within the <amp-story-player>
element. The href
endpoint may be the URL of a hosted Web Story or a relative path. Place the title of the story within the <a>
tags.
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<script
async
src="https://cdn.ampproject.org/amp-story-player-v0.js"
></script>
<link
href="https://cdn.ampproject.org/amp-story-player-v0.css"
rel="stylesheet"
type="text/css"
/>
<style>
header {
height: 8vh;
color: #545454;
background-color: #DDB556;
display: flex;
align-items: center;
justify-content: center;
}
amp-story-player {
margin: 1rem auto;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<header>
<h1>
Page Header
</h1>
</header>
<h1>
Article Title
</h1>
<amp-story-player style="width: 370px; height: 622px;">
<a href="https://ampfest-story-player-demo.web.app/examples/amp-story/AMPFestPlayerDemo/s3">
<img src="https://ss.makestories.io/get?story=-MHy2RL_9ZnDFYTFB2PY&version=1600916568756" loading="lazy" data-amp-story-player-poster-img width="370" height="622"></img>
</a>
</amp-story-player>
</body>
</html>
Provide a placeholder
Include a representative poster image by adding an <img>
tag as a child of the story's <a>
tag with the following configuration. The AMP story player displays this image while loading the full story.
<amp-story-player style="width: 50vw; height: 83.35vw;">
<a href="https://www.example.com/story.html">
<img src="https://www.example.com/assets/cover1.html" loading="lazy" width="100%" height="100%" data-amp-story-player-poster-img>
A title that describes this story.
</a>
</amp-story-player>
For the best user experience, we strongly recommend including a poster image. If you do not include a poster image the story player will display a loader spinner with a grey background.
Autoplay stories
By default, the first story in the player will automatically start playing when the player becomes visible in the user's viewport.
You can opt-out of the default behavior by using the configuration below. This will prevent the first story in the player to start playing until you call play() on the player.
<amp-story-player>
<script type="application/json">
{
"behavior": {
"autoplay": false
}
}
</script>
<a href="./story1.html"> ... </a>
<a href="./story2.html"> ... </a>
...
Specify multiple Web Stories
Include the desired number of <a>
tags, with each href
attribute pointed to the desired Web Story URL, within the <amp-story-player>
element.
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<script
async
src="https://cdn.ampproject.org/amp-story-player-v0.js"
></script>
<link
href="https://cdn.ampproject.org/amp-story-player-v0.css"
rel="stylesheet"
type="text/css"
/>
<style>
header {
height: 8vh;
color: #545454;
background-color: #DDB556;
display: flex;
align-items: center;
justify-content: center;
}
amp-story-player {
margin: 1rem auto;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<header>
<h1>
Page Header
</h1>
</header>
<h1>
Article Title
</h1>
<amp-story-player style="width: 370px; height: 622px;">
<a href="https://ampfest-story-player-demo.web.app/examples/amp-story/AMPFestPlayerDemo/s1"></a>
<a href="https://ampfest-story-player-demo.web.app/examples/amp-story/AMPFestPlayerDemo/s2"></a>
<a href="https://ampfest-story-player-demo.web.app/examples/amp-story/AMPFestPlayerDemo/s3"></a>
</amp-story-player>
</body>
</html>
The Web Story Player displays the first story. It automatically presents the user with the next story’s cover page after finishing the previous, or using the swiping motion to skip. The Web Story Player does not have any built-in UI functionality to inform the user there are multiple stories in a single player. Instead, build user entry points to display available stories and allow user selection.
Circular story wrapping
You can create a circular consumption of a set of stories by adding the circular-wrapping
action to the JSON configuration. When circular-wrapping
is included, the Web Story Player displays the first story to users after they finish the last story.
<amp-story-player>
<script type="application/json">
{
"behavior": {
"on": "end",
"action": "circular-wrapping"
}
}
</script>
<a href="./story1.html"> ... </a>
<a href="./story2.html"> ... </a>
...
</amp-story-player>
The JSON configuration must be a direct child of the <amp-story-player>
element and include the type="application/json"
attribute.
Personalized and infinite stories
You can create an "infinite scroll" experience as the user navigates through them in the Web Story Player. To do so, include the fetch
action and specify an endpoint in the JSON configuration. The player automatically fetches more stories as the user gets closer to the last loaded story. You can customize fetched stories for users by setting up backend personalization system and using the fetch
action to serve them.
<amp-story-player>
<script type="application/json">
{
"behavior": {
"on": "end",
"action": "fetch",
"endpoint": "https://example.com/my-endpoint.json?offset=${offset}"
}
}
</script>
<a href="./story1.html"> ... </a>
<a href="./story2.html"> ... </a>
...
The JSON configuration must be a direct child of the <amp-story-player>
element and include the type="application/json"
attribute. For pagination, use the optional endpoint
url variable ${offset}
to add a parameter. The Web Story Player replaces ${offset}
with the actual offset. For example, if the publisher provides https://example.com/my-endpoint.json?offset=${offset}
and the Web Story Player has 5 stories loaded, it sends https://example.com/my-endpoint.json?offset=5
.
Response
The Web Story Player expects a JSON containing an array of story objects as a response.
[
{
"href": "https://example.com/story3.html",
"title": "My third cool story", // optional
"posterImage": "https://example.com/assets/story3.png" // optional
},
{
"href": "https://example.com/story4.html",
"title": "My fourth cool story", // optional
"posterImage": "https://example.com/assets/story4.png" // optional
}
]
href
The URL where your story is located.
title
(optional)
The title of your story.
posterImage
(optional)
The poster image of your story.
Customize Web Story Player UI
You may customize the controls of the Web Story Player UI. You can add new control buttons, and change their position or look. Controls are configured as JSON with type="application/json"
as a child of the <amp-story-player>
element. Include an array of desired "controls".
<amp-story-player>
<script type="application/json">
{
"controls": [
{
"name": "close",
"position": "start"
},
{
"name": "skip-to-next"
}
]
}
</script>
<a href="./story1.html"> ... </a>
<a href="./story2.html"> ... </a>
</amp-story-player>
Close control
By default, the Web Story Player does not include a close control. You may add a close icon to the Web Story Player by specifying a control object with the “close” name. This is recommended when using the player in implementations that display the player in a lightbox or fullscreen view.
The “close” control supports the following customizable properties:
position
: “start” or “end”.- Positions the icon either on the left (“start”) or right (“end”) on LTR languages.
- Positions the icon on either the left (“end”) or right (“start”) on RTL languages.
visibility
: “hidden” or “visible” (default).- Toggles the control’s visibility. If omitted, the default is visible.
backgroundImageUrl
: string with url or data string (escaped).- Changes the icon image to the provided url or data string (for inline svgs).
The close button dispatches the amp-story-player-close
event when clicked/tapped by the user.
<amp-story-player>
<script type="application/json">
{
"controls": [
{
"name": "close",
"backgroundImageUrl": "data:image\/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,<\/svg>",
"position": "start"
}
]
}
</script>
<a href="./story1.html"> ... </a>
<a href="./story2.html"> ... </a>
</amp-story-player>
Share control
The share control is visible in all stories, but you may customize the look and position.
The “share” control supports the following customizable properties:
position
: “start” or “end”.- Positions the icon either on the left (“start”) or right (“end”) on LTR languages.
- Positions the icon on either the left (“end”) or right (“start”) on RTL languages.
visibility
: “hidden” or “visible” (default).- Toggles the control’s visibility. If omitted, the default is visible.
backgroundImageUrl
: string with url or data string (escaped).- Changes the icon image to the provided url or data string (for inline svgs).
Skip to next control
Add a control that skips to the next story inside the player by specifying a control object with the “skip-to-next” name. This feature is only available on desktop, as mobile users may use the “swipe” gesture to skip to the next story.
The “skip-to-next” control supports the following customizable properties:
position
: “start” or “end”.- Positions the icon either on the left (“start”) or right (“end”) on LTR languages.
- Positions the icon on either the left (“end”) or right (“start”) on RTL languages.
visibility
: “hidden” or “visible” (default).- Toggles the control’s visibility. If omitted, the default is visible.
backgroundImageUrl
: string with url or data string (escaped).- Changes the icon image to the provided url or data string (for inline svgs).
Custom control
Add a custom control to the Web Story Player by specifying the following required properties:
- name: a string with the name of the control. e.g. “lightbox”. The dispatched event will depend on this name. The custom event will be the name of the control prefixed with amp-story-player-*. E.g. amp-story-player-lightbox.
backgroundImageUrl
: string with url or data string (escaped).- Changes the icon image to the provided url or data string (for inline svgs).
<script type="application/json">
{
"controls": [
{
"name": "custom-control",
"backgroundImageUrl": "data:image\/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,<\/svg>"
}
],
}
</script>
The event custom controls dispatch depends on the name property. Events are with prefixed with “amp-story-player-*" and then the name of the custom control. For example, “custom-control” dispatches the event “amp-story-player-custom-control”.
const player = document.body.querySelector("amp-story-player");
// Listen to when the specified control was clicked.
player.addEventListener("amp-story-player-custom-control", () => {
// This will trigger when the control with the "custom-control" name is clicked.
performCustomAction();
});
You may further personalize custom controls with the following optional properties:
position
: “start” or “end”.- Places the icon either on the left or right on LTR languages.
visibility
: “hidden” or “visible” (default).- Toggles the control’s visibility. If omitted, the default is visible.
Web Story Player interactivity
You may call the Web Story Player’s methods to programmatically control the player. These methods include when to initialize the player, muting the audio, and pausing the story.
const playerEl = document.body.querySelector('amp-story-player');
playerEl.play()
Available methods are exposed on the HTML element:
const playerEl = document.querySelector('amp-story-player')
When creating a player dynamically, such as document.createElement('amp-story-player')
, you may use the global class variable AmpStoryPlayer
to load the player manually.
const player = new AmpStoryPlayer(window, playerEl)
load()
. See the list of methods in the Web Story Player spec.
Interactive events
The Web Story Player dispatches events you can listen for and react to. Use these events to create interactive experiences and track analytics. The full list of events can be found on the Web Story Player spec.
In the example below, we use the page-attachment-close
, page-attachment-open
and amp-story-player-back
events to change the background of a different element on our page.
player.addEventListener('page-attachment-close', () => {
textEl.style.backgroundColor = 'blue';
})
player.addEventListener('page-attachment-open', () => {
textEl.style.backgroundColor = 'red';
})
player.addEventListener('amp-story-back', () => {
textEl.style.backgroundColor = 'green';
})
User entry points
Now that you have your Web Story Player displaying your stories, you must introduce them to your site users via entry points. The following guide will teach you how to create entry points that follow the best UX practices.