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Survey of API doc sites

Chapter 10: Publishing API docs 27% complete

Topic 3 of 11

Last updated: Jun 06, 2020

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Rather than approach the topic of publishing prescriptively, let’s begin with some concrete examples and move towards the formulation of general principles. The following are more than 100 openly accessible REST APIs that you can browse as a way to look at patterns and examples.

100+ API doc sites

Browse a few of these documentation sites to get a sense of the variety, but also try to identify common patterns. In this list, I include not only impressively designed docs but also docs that look like they were created by a department intern just learning HTML. The variety in the list demonstrates the many options for publishing tools and approaches, as well as terminology. It seems that almost everyone does their API docs their own way, with their own site, branding, organization, and style.

  1. Shopgate API docs
  2. Google Places API docs
  3. Twitter API docs
  4. Flickr API docs
  5. Facebook’s Graph API docs
  6. Youtube API docs
  7. eBay API docs
  8. Amazon EC2 API docs
  9. Twilio API docs
  10. Last.fm API docs
  11. Bing Maps docs
  12. gpodder.net Web Service docs
  13. Google Cloud API docs
  14. Foursquare Places API docs
  15. Walmart API docs
  16. Dropbox API docs
  17. Splunk API docs
  18. Revit API docs
  19. Docusign API docs
  20. Geonames docs
  21. Adsense API docs
  22. Box API docs
  23. Amazon API docs
  24. Linkedin REST API docs
  25. Instagram API docs
  26. Google Analytics Management API docs
  27. Yelp API docs
  28. Facebook API docs
  29. Concur API docs
  30. Paypal API docs
  31. Bitly API docs
  32. Callfire API docs
  33. Reddit API docs
  34. Rhapsody API docs
  35. Donors Choose docs
  36. Sendgrid API docs
  37. Mailchimp docs
  38. Basecamp API docs
  39. NYTimes API docs
  40. USPS API docs
  41. NWS API docs
  42. Evernote API docs
  43. Stripe API docs
  44. Parse API docs
  45. Opensecrets API docs
  46. News API docs
  47. CTA Train Tracker API
  48. Mapbox API docs
  49. Groupon API docs
  50. AddThis Data API docs
  51. Glassdoor Jobs API docs
  52. Crunchbase API docs
  53. Zendesk API docs
  54. Pushover API docs
  55. Pusher Client API docs
  56. Pingdom API docs
  57. Jive docs
  58. IBM Watson docs
  59. Stores API docs
  60. Alchemy API docs
  61. Indivo API 2.0 docs
  62. Socrata API docs
  63. Github API docs
  64. Mailgun API docs
  65. RiotGames API docs
  66. Basecamp API docs
  67. ESPN API docs
  68. Snap API docs
  69. SwiftType API docs
  70. Snipcart API docs
  71. VHX API docs
  72. Polldaddy API docs
  73. Gumroad API docs
  74. Formstack API docs
  75. Salesforce Chatter RESt API docs
  76. The Movie Database API docs
  77. SoundCloud API docs
  78. CouchDB docs
  79. Smart Home API (Amazon Alexa) docs
  80. Coinbase docs
  81. Shopify API docs
  82. Authorize.net docs
  83. Trip Advisor docs
  84. Pinterest docs
  85. Spotify API
  86. Trello API
  87. Yext API
  88. Strava API
  89. Plaid API
  90. Rundown API
  91. Zype API
  92. Edamam Food APIs
  93. Veracode API
  94. SAP
  95. Dwolla API

Activity: Look for common patterns in API doc sites

In this activity, identify common patterns in API documentation sites.

  1. Go the list of 100+ API documentation sites.
  2. Select about three different APIs (choose any of those listed on the page).

  3. Look for several patterns or commonalities among the API doc sites. For example, you might look for any of the following patterns:

    • Structure and templates
    • Seamless branding (between docs and the marketing site)
    • Abundant code samples and syntax highlighting
    • Lengthy pages
    • API Interactivity (such as an API Explorer)
    • Docs as code tooling

  4. Note any non-patterns, such as the following:

    • PDF
    • Translation
    • Video tutorials
    • Commenting features
    • Multiple outputs by role
  5. Make some notes in an API log or journal (or share them in the comments below).

In the next section, we’ll look at Design patterns with API doc sites. From your notes, look to see if the patterns I highlight match the ones you observed in the API doc sites you analyzed.

About Tom Johnson

Tom Johnson

I'm an API technical writer based in the Seattle area. On this blog, I write about topics related to technical writing and communication — such as software documentation, API documentation, AI, information architecture, content strategy, writing processes, plain language, tech comm careers, and more. Check out my API documentation course if you're looking for more info about documenting APIs. Or see my posts on AI and AI course section for more on the latest in AI and tech comm.

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