How to configure WordPress for Facebook’s Instant Articles

29th February 2016

Facebook pitches Instant Articles as a “HTML5 document optimized for fast mobile performance, rich storytelling capabilities, branded design and customized visual display”.

Put simply, it’s Facebook’s answer to a faster, more mobile web.

At first glance Instant Articles seem very self explanatory.

In their video, Facebook pitch Instant Articles as a “faster, more beautiful experience for the web.” Using National Geographic as the case study, various stakeholders cite some particularly exciting features for content development including:

Video autoplay / seamless video embed
Images that scroll and zoom with the orientation of the phone
Audio captioning that syncs with your scroll progress in the article
Animated maps with image layering / geo tagging options
Customisable typeface and layouts

I think the coolest stand out feature is the integration with the device itself; accessible image scroll and zoom features based on changes in the device orientation is hugely compelling.

Source: Notes on the Surrender at Menlo Park (2) for a list of examples of “long formy” Instant Articles.

How to Set Up WordPress for Instant Articles

If you followed the setup on our post about Accelerated Mobile Pages, you’ll have Pagefrog / AMP installed. If not, install Pagefrog and head to “Mobile Formats” > “Set Up”