API User Experience

A product is nothing without its users, and user experience is at the core of building and managing a product that users love. To effectively measure and improve your API user experience, or API UX, you must start by identifying those users. This chapter explores the different types of users and how they interact with APIs. You’ll be able to see the diversity of ways in which APIs can be consumed. You’ll also learn what second-degree user experience is and how it can contribute to the success of an API product.

This chapter begins by exploring the top industries where APIs are consumed the most. We will then describe the notion of API personas and the top professional roles in API usage. This chapter dives deep into developers and how their experience of using an API affects their success. You’ll then see how the end user experience is tied to APIs and how you can improve it. Finally, we will explore the idea of API friction and how it negatively...