{"id":9481,"date":"2023-10-28T19:50:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-28T17:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/europe.wordcamp.org\/2024\/speaker\/dennis-snell\/"},"modified":"2024-05-03T10:38:02","modified_gmt":"2024-05-03T08:38:02","slug":"dennis-snell","status":"publish","type":"wcb_speaker","link":"https:\/\/europe.wordcamp.org\/2024\/speaker\/dennis-snell\/","title":{"rendered":"Dennis Snell"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignfull has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-08281ae9 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><figure style=\"width:512px;height:512px;\" class=\"speaker-image-featured wp-block-wordcamp-avatar wp-container-content-9cfa9a5a\"><a href=\"https:\/\/europe.wordcamp.org\/2024\/speaker\/dennis-snell\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b5292a7fb1ae9f9cce40615cb7715e799a69d78bad79b99ca9d14494c90a1b8b?s=512&amp;d=blank&amp;r=g\" alt=\"Dennis Snell\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:140px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-post-title\">Dennis Snell<\/h2>\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/profiles.wordpress.org\/dmsnell\">@dmsnell<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">United States<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dennis is a code wrangler at Automattic and has been working with WordPress for over a decade and a half. He spends too much time digging deeply into text encoding and parsing issues, which led him to co-develop WordPress&#8217; HTML API. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Programming is his passion, which he does in and out of work while traveling around as a digital nomad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-custom-fuel-yellow-100-background-color has-background is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\" style=\"margin-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--50);margin-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--60)\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignfull speaker-single-session has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-e4fea790 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--40);padding-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--40);padding-bottom:0;padding-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--40)\">\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading is-style-default\" style=\"padding-top:0;padding-bottom:0\">Session<\/h4>\n\n\n<ul style=\"padding-top:0;padding-bottom:0;padding-left:0;padding-right:0;margin-right:0;margin-left:0;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;\" class=\"is-style-default wp-block-wordcamp-speaker-sessions\"><li><p><a href=\"https:\/\/europe.wordcamp.org\/2024\/session\/intro-to-the-html-api-reliable-safe-and-convenient\/\">Intro to the HTML API: Reliable, safe, and convenient<\/a><\/p><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns alignfull has-background is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-30f78418 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\" style=\"background:linear-gradient(182deg,rgb(249,178,51) 52%,rgb(255,255,255) 53%);padding-top:0;padding-bottom:0\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Get to know Dennis \ud83c\udf99\ufe0f<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:70px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><em>Can you start by painting a picture of what a typical day looks like for you? What fuels your passion for the work you do, and how does it tie into your involvement with WCEU?<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">My typical day starts with a flood of notifications, updates, and messages from various projects. I spend a good part of each morning trying to answer questions, consider posts, and follow-up with people who are depending on me in different areas. If I\u2019m lucky enough to get through all this, I\u2019ll often take a walk for a mental break and then start working on writing: usually it involves writing code, but frequently enough I also spend my afternoons working on posts or design ideas or responding at length to other requests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There\u2019s not a deep explanation for what fuels my passion: programming itself is that passion, and I desire to build systems well and professionally. I care deeply about presenting software that gets the little details right &#8211; to mangle an expression I picked up once, people get more upset at a pencil tip constantly breaking while trying to fill out an application than they do having that application be rejected. My work on the HTML API is like this: people are solving their own complicated challenges with WordPress and they shouldn\u2019t be prevented from doing that over peculiarities in the language of the system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><em>What sparked your interest in becoming a speaker at WCEU? Was there a particular moment or experience that motivated you to share your insights with this community?<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While I enjoy sharing about software development generally, I\u2019ve had specific goals lately with the HTML API. We\u2019re turning around two decades of practices for writing and modifying HTML on the server and so I want to help people understand how to do it in this new, safe, and reliable way. There are so many things that are becoming practical to do that were not before simply because we now have a tool that speaks the right language. Getting together in a room and discussing this is a great way to spark new ideas and train each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><em>For those awaiting your talk, could you give us a preview of what we can expect to learn from your talk? Any sneak peeks?<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The work I do is in the open and nothing is hidden or waiting a grand reveal. Still, people may come from different backgrounds and curiosities to this talk. It\u2019s a developer-oriented workshop and presumes some curiosity about the topic: maybe someone has tried to add a class name to a specific part of a document and struggled, maybe someone wanted to extract an excerpt from a post but was constantly frustrated that the content was mangled, or a bunch of entities came through instead of the text they represent. We\u2019ll discuss in the workshop not only how to do these things, but demonstrate how easy it becomes to build full HTML-to-Markdown converters, index HTML, process block content, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><em>Is it your first time at a WCEU or WordPress event? Any standout memories or lessons learned that you&#8217;d like to share?<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">My first WordCamp ever was WordCamp Europe. It\u2019s always been a real joy participating. Many of my most-exciting ideas were inspired by conversations in the hallways between sessions. I highly encourage everyone to make connections with others in the community and see that the WordCamp extends beyond the great talks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><em>Looking beyond the scheduled sessions, what do you hope attendees will take away from their overall experience at WCEU? How can they leverage the event to enhance their professional development or personal growth?&nbsp;<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is a loaded question: there\u2019s not only going to be a different answer for everyone, but it also implies seeing WCEU in a very specific way. If you haven\u2019t been before, it\u2019s worth relaxing your expectations and letting the event itself guide what you get out of it. Be open-minded and don\u2019t fixate on one aspect. When I started attending there were things that surprised me that I valued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WCEU is not only an opportunity get gain from the community, but it\u2019s also a unique opportunity to give back. There are plenty of opportunities, including Contributor Day, asking questions at the end of or after a presentation, continuing a discussion after a session, sharing your perspective at dinner, and making connections that last well past the weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Among the thousands of people attending there are going to be many with extensive experience, both within WordPress and outside of it. I always learn from paying attention to what they say and observing what problems they&#8217;re working on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:70px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-custom-mandy-40-background-color has-background has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-6849f779 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--50);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--50)\">\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Other Speakers<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-query is-layout-flow wp-block-query-is-layout-flow\"><ul class=\"columns-3 wp-block-post-template is-layout-grid wp-container-core-post-template-is-layout-7a7e3e15 wp-block-post-template-is-layout-grid\"><li class=\"wp-block-post post-9481 wcb_speaker type-wcb_speaker status-publish hentry\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-5c542538 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\"><figure style=\"width:256px;height:256px;\" class=\"speaker-image-featured-small wp-block-wordcamp-avatar wp-container-content-9cfa9a5a\"><a href=\"https:\/\/europe.wordcamp.org\/2024\/speaker\/dennis-snell\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b5292a7fb1ae9f9cce40615cb7715e799a69d78bad79b99ca9d14494c90a1b8b?s=256&amp;d=blank&amp;r=g\" alt=\"Dennis Snell\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-post-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/europe.wordcamp.org\/2024\/speaker\/dennis-snell\/\" target=\"_self\" >Dennis Snell<\/a><\/h4><\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-9457 wcb_speaker type-wcb_speaker status-publish hentry\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-5c542538 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\"><figure style=\"width:256px;height:256px;\" class=\"speaker-image-featured-small wp-block-wordcamp-avatar wp-container-content-9cfa9a5a\"><a href=\"https:\/\/europe.wordcamp.org\/2024\/speaker\/elena-panciera\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ee758ef560d30c0177c487db7223bd4ac49701002db40d4cd0c7c05e45905865?s=256&amp;d=blank&amp;r=g\" alt=\"Elena Panciera\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-post-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/europe.wordcamp.org\/2024\/speaker\/elena-panciera\/\" target=\"_self\" >Elena Panciera<\/a><\/h4><\/div>\n\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-9474 wcb_speaker type-wcb_speaker status-publish hentry\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-5c542538 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\"><figure style=\"width:256px;height:256px;\" class=\"speaker-image-featured-small wp-block-wordcamp-avatar wp-container-content-9cfa9a5a\"><a href=\"https:\/\/europe.wordcamp.org\/2024\/speaker\/eneko-garrido\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9dee87b5e34900db530acb6b0cbbcb1ab09fa524e8380b8c24c01ebc2df02c40?s=256&amp;d=blank&amp;r=g\" alt=\"Eneko Garrido\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-post-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/europe.wordcamp.org\/2024\/speaker\/eneko-garrido\/\" target=\"_self\" >Eneko Garrido<\/a><\/h4><\/div>\n\n<\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dennis is a code wrangler at Automattic and has been working with WordPress for over a decade and a half. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15025730,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"wp-custom-template-speaker-single","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_wcpt_user_name":"dmsnell","footnotes":""},"speaker_group":[],"class_list":["post-9481","wcb_speaker","type-wcb_speaker","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/peP1kR-2sV","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"avatar_urls":{"24":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b5292a7fb1ae9f9cce40615cb7715e799a69d78bad79b99ca9d14494c90a1b8b?s=24&d=blank&r=g","48":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b5292a7fb1ae9f9cce40615cb7715e799a69d78bad79b99ca9d14494c90a1b8b?s=48&d=blank&r=g","96":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b5292a7fb1ae9f9cce40615cb7715e799a69d78bad79b99ca9d14494c90a1b8b?s=96&d=blank&r=g","128":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b5292a7fb1ae9f9cce40615cb7715e799a69d78bad79b99ca9d14494c90a1b8b?s=128&d=blank&r=g","256":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b5292a7fb1ae9f9cce40615cb7715e799a69d78bad79b99ca9d14494c90a1b8b?s=256&d=blank&r=g","512":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b5292a7fb1ae9f9cce40615cb7715e799a69d78bad79b99ca9d14494c90a1b8b?s=512&d=blank&r=g"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/europe.wordcamp.org\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/speakers\/9481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/europe.wordcamp.org\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/speakers"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/europe.wordcamp.org\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/wcb_speaker"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/europe.wordcamp.org\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15025730"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/europe.wordcamp.org\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9481"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/europe.wordcamp.org\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/speakers\/9481\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12045,"href":"https:\/\/europe.wordcamp.org\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/speakers\/9481\/revisions\/12045"}],"sessions":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/europe.wordcamp.org\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sessions\/9814?_embed=1&context=view"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/europe.wordcamp.org\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"wcb_speaker_group","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/europe.wordcamp.org\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/speaker_group?post=9481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}