pubapis_api_list.md

title	permalink	course	sidebar	weight	section	path1	last-modified
Survey of API doc sites	pubapis_apilist.html	Documenting REST APIs	docapis	9.1	publishingapis	publishingapis.html	2020-06-06

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.

• TOC {:toc}

100+ API doc sites {#list_api_doc_sites}

{% include image_ad_right.html %} 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.

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

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{% include tip.html content="If any of the links fail, just type {product} + api docs into Google's search, you will likely find the company's developer doc site. Most commonly, the API docs are at developer.{company}.com." %}

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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.

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