Here are some of the most interesting articles about Restful APIs that I encountered this month - February 2016:
Subway Map From Restlet
It made me happy to see the folks over at Restlet playing with the same concept (we didn't coordinate on it honestly), to help articulate HTTP status codes, which is a very important topic for the space, and we need more education tools, and stories around it. Using the subway map analogy, Restlet provides a representation of the five areas of status codes, providing a simple way to explore them, and find a description of each individual status code.
The subway map they provide is currently a static map, but this is one of the biggest potential areas in using this analogy for me, is that with the right JavaScript + JSON voodoo, you can make it real-time, and interactive. This is something I'm working on to bring the entire lifecycle to the forefront this month.
A Plea for Clearer Documentation for Non-Developers
One of the more frustrating things as a designer is jumping on a project or using a tool with poor documentation. For me, this process can be pretty stressful, and there is typically a large gap in knowledge between the developers and designers.
How to Improve API Experience Using Hypermedia
One of the greatest ways to improve and sustain an API user base is by enhancing developer experience. A way to do this is by improving the usability of an API with hypermedia - a method of interacting with APIs. But what exactly is hypermedia, why is it important, and how will it affect an API program?
Does your REST API need an SDK?
When integrating with a platform that offers a REST API, a developer sometimes has the option of downloading the client library in their language of choice, or writing HTTP code themselves to integrate with the API directly. You as an API provider should decide early on if you wish to offer SDKs to your customers.