User focused API Design
summary
Argues that a Web API is a user interface and applies UX methods concretely: create personas, a QuickStart and documentation-as-onboarding, use prototypes and mock servers, write client code and SDKs, collect metrics (errors, request patterns, user agent) and iterate. Recommends sensible status codes, field selection/filtering, and strict versioning; warns that nearly 100% of calls are machine-made so human-facing docs must teach developers. Mentions using API Blueprint, experimenting with a Django versioning decorator, and providing sandboxes like Stripe for testing.
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chapters (13)
- 0:00Intro
- 2:02API DESIGN
- 3:03USER INTERFACES
- 6:40DEVELOPER EXPERIENCE
- 8:15RESEARCH
- 9:02ANALYSIS
- 9:57VALIDATION (TESTING)
- 12:48ONBOARDING
- 13:29QUICK-START
- 14:19ERRORS
- 16:06TESTING AND FEEDBACK
- 18:01METRICS
- 19:48CONVENTIONS AND PATTERNS
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