In a world where custom JSON and binary formats thrive, HTML and XML continue to provide an open and universal system for sharing structured information. But these languages are plagued by decades of insufficient tooling which makes working with them tenuous at best. The HTML API in WordPress has introduced a safe, reliable, and convenient interface for parsing HTML to address a number of these issues; in the process it unlocks new worlds of interoperability and translation for human-authored content.

This talk will discuss the streaming interface of this new processing pipeline and how it can be replicated in other languages and platforms. It will highlight how re-embracing HTML and other markup languages can improve interoperability between platforms and how better tooling can make working with these legacy formats less painful.

Having a spec-compliant DOM parser is useful, but a spec-compliant and minimally-allocating streaming parser can be a game-changer in high-demand and low-latency applications. Come hear the fascinating war stories from developing such a system, how design played a key role, and ways it has already unlocked novel and high-quality features.

• https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/html-api/
• https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_html_processor/
• https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_html_tag_processor/