1. apidoc
2. documenting APIs
3. Publishing your API documentation

Survey of API doc sites

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. You can find many more APIs by browsing programmableweb.com.

• 100+ API doc sites
• Programmableweb.com: A directory of API doc sites on the open web
• Activity: Look for common patterns in API doc sites

100+ API doc sites

{: .note3} 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. Zomato API docs
27. Yahoo Social API docs
28. Google Analytics Management API docs
29. Yelp API docs
30. Lyft API docs
31. Facebook API docs
32. Eventful API docs
33. Concur API docs
34. Paypal API docs
35. Bitly API docs
36. Callfire API docs
37. Reddit API docs
38. Netvibes API docs
39. Rhapsody API docs
40. Donors Choose docs
41. Sendgrid API docs
42. Photobucket API docs
43. Mailchimp docs
44. Basecamp API docs
45. Smugmug API docs
46. NYTimes API docs
47. USPS API docs
48. NWS API docs
49. Evernote API docs
50. Stripe API docs
51. Parse API docs
52. Opensecrets API docs
53. CNN API docs
54. CTA Train Tracker API
55. Amazon API docs
56. Revit API docs
57. Citygrid API docs
58. Mapbox API docs
59. Groupon API docs
60. AddThis Data API docs
61. Yahoo Weather API docs
62. Glassdoor Jobs API docs
63. Crunchbase API docs
64. Zendesk API docs
65. Validic API docs
66. Ninja Blocks API docs
67. Pushover API docs
68. Pusher Client API docs
69. Pingdom API docs
70. Daily Mile API docs
71. Jive docs
72. IBM Watson docs
73. HipChat API docs
74. Stores API docs
75. Alchemy API docs
76. Indivo API 2.0 docs
77. Socrata API docs
78. Github API docs
79. Mailgun API docs
80. RiotGames API docs
81. Basecamp API docs
82. ESPN API docs
83. Snap API docs
84. SwiftType API docs
85. Snipcart API docs
86. VHX API docs
87. Polldaddy API docs
88. Gumroad API docs
89. Formstack API docs
90. Livefyre API docs
91. Salesforce Chatter RESt API docs
92. The Movie Database API docs
93. Free Music Archive API docs
94. Context.io docs
95. CouchDB docs
96. Smart Home API (Amazon Alexa) docs
97. Coinbase docs
98. Shopify API docs
99. Authorize.net docs
100. Trip Advisor docs
101. Pinterest docs
102. Uber docs
103. Spotify API
104. Trello API
105. Yext API
106. Threat Stack API docs
107. Strava API
108. Plaid API
109. Paymill API
110. Rundown API
111. Zype API
112. Yummyly API
113. Edamam Food APIs
114. Veracode API
115. SAP
116. Sunbird API
117. Dwolla API

Programmableweb.com: A directory of API doc sites on the open web

For a directory of API documentation sites on the open web, see the Programmableweb.com docs. You can browse thousands of web API docs in a variety of categories.

Note that Programmableweb lists only open web APIs, meaning APIs that you can access on the web (which also means it’s usually a REST API). They don’t list the countless internal, firewalled APIs that many companies provide at a cost to paying customers. There are many more thousands of private APIs out there that most of us will never know about.

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.