1. I'd Rather Be Writing
2. Docs
3. Chapter 10: Publishing your API documentation

Survey of API doc sites

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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
• Activity: Look for common patterns in API doc sites

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. Lyft API docs
29. Facebook API docs
30. Eventful API docs
31. Concur API docs
32. Paypal API docs
33. Bitly API docs
34. Callfire API docs
35. Reddit API docs
36. Netvibes API docs
37. Rhapsody API docs
38. Donors Choose docs
39. Sendgrid API docs
40. Mailchimp docs
41. Basecamp API docs
42. Smugmug API docs
43. NYTimes API docs
44. USPS API docs
45. NWS API docs
46. Evernote API docs
47. Stripe API docs
48. Parse API docs
49. Opensecrets API docs
50. News API docs
51. CTA Train Tracker API
52. Amazon API docs
53. Revit API docs
54. Citygrid API docs
55. Mapbox API docs
56. Groupon API docs
57. AddThis Data API docs
58. Yahoo Weather API docs
59. Glassdoor Jobs API docs
60. Crunchbase API docs
61. Zendesk API docs
62. Validic API docs
63. Ninja Blocks API docs
64. Pushover API docs
65. Pusher Client API docs
66. Pingdom API docs
67. Daily Mile API docs
68. Jive docs
69. IBM Watson docs
70. HipChat API docs
71. Stores API docs
72. Alchemy API docs
73. Indivo API 2.0 docs
74. Socrata API docs
75. Github API docs
76. Mailgun API docs
77. RiotGames API docs
78. Basecamp API docs
79. ESPN API docs
80. Snap API docs
81. SwiftType API docs
82. Snipcart API docs
83. VHX API docs
84. Polldaddy API docs
85. Gumroad API docs
86. Formstack API docs
87. Livefyre API docs
88. Salesforce Chatter RESt API docs
89. The Movie Database API docs
90. SoundCloud API docs
91. Context.io docs
92. CouchDB docs
93. Smart Home API (Amazon Alexa) docs
94. Coinbase docs
95. Shopify API docs
96. Authorize.net docs
97. Trip Advisor docs
98. Pinterest docs
99. Uber docs
100. Spotify API
101. Trello API
102. Yext API
103. Threat Stack API docs
104. Strava API
105. Plaid API
106. Paymill API
107. Rundown API
108. Zype API
109. Yummyly API
110. Edamam Food APIs
111. Veracode API
112. SAP
113. Sunbird API
114. 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

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.