Chapter 6: Testing API documentation
Testing documentation against your APIs is critical for documentation quality. Fortunately, testing REST APIs and their responses tends involves less setup and expertise than testing library-based APIs like Java. Even so, to test your docs, you need to set up a test environment and get access to API keys or other resources. This will involve collaborating with QA teams. Your goal should be to walk through your instructions personally, making test calls and verifying the responses. You also should push back against any technical assumptions as you champion user needs. In short, testing docs means avoiding passively documenting what engineers say but rather actively validating as much as you can.
About 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.
If you're a technical writer and want to keep on top of the latest trends in the tech comm, be sure to subscribe to email updates below. You can also learn more about me or contact me. Finally, note that the opinions I express on my blog are my own points of view, not that of my employer.
61/167 pages complete. Only 106 more pages to go.