Applying Design Principles to API Initiatives

Applying Universal Design Principles to API Ini5a5ves Kevin Swiber@kevinswiberAlan Languirand Apigee@13protons @apigee

groups.google.com/group/api-craft

youtube.com/apigee

slideshare.net/apigee

@kevinswiber @13protons Kevin Swiber Alan Languirand

amazon.com *

“ Successful products typically follow four stages of crea5on: requirements, design, development, and tes5ng. Development Cycle Universal Principles of Design *

Development Cycle Requirements Design Development Tes5ng *

Development Cycle Requirements Design Development Tes5ng 80/20 Consistency Inverted Pyramid Signal to Noise Ra5o Errors Validate Flexibility vs. Layering Usability Trade-‐oﬀ Visibility Constraints *

Applica5on Developers are Kingmakers App App App World of API Internal App APIUser Store Developer APIs Team Systems

Ques5ons to ask at each phase: •  What is the app developer doing? •  How can we help? *

“ A high percentage of eﬀects in any large system are caused by a low percentage of variables. 80/20 Rule Universal Principles of Design *

Invest in highly-‐used features *

Fix high-‐impact bugs *

“ As the ﬂexibility of a system increases, its usability decreases. Flexibility-‐Usability Tradeoﬀ Universal Principles of Design *

Many op5ons vs. quick adop5on *

Start with a well-‐deﬁned use case *

Iterate to greater ﬂexibility *

Point the way *

“ The usability of a system is improved when similar parts are expressed in similar ways. Consistency Universal Principles of Design *

Deﬁne paerns *

“ The process of organizing informa5on into related groupings in order to manage complexity and reinforce rela5onships in the informa5on. Layering Universal Principles of Design *

“ A method of limi5ng the ac5ons that can be performed on a system. Constraint Universal Principles of Design *

Twier v1: /statuses/public_timeline.json/statuses/public_timeline.xml *

Twier v1.1 /statuses/public_timeline.json *

Eliminate unnecessary choices *

Share our domain knowledge *

Share our API knowledge *

“ A method of informa5on presenta5on in which informa5on is presented in descending order of importance. Inverted Pyramid Universal Principles of Design *

Does alphabet soup taste good? *

List resources by importance *

“ An ac5on or omission of ac5on yielding an unintended consequence. Errors Universal Principles of Design *

Make it easy to learn from mistakes *

“ The usability of a system is improved when its status and methods of use are clearly visible. Visibility Universal Principles of Design *

Be transparent and human *

Ask for input, give data *

“ The ra5o of relevant to irrelevant informa5on in a display. The highest possible signal-‐to-‐noise ra5o is desirable in design. Signal-‐to-‐Noise Ra5o Universal Principles of Design *

Maintain clarity. *

Tip: Verify design principles as well as correctness. *

Universal Principles of Design •  Educate others about our domain •  Cer5fy our partner developers •  Inspire with an app gallery •  Guide the design of apps •  List the objects in our system •  Engage developers with an API console •  Be accessible via forums, social media & email •  Receive bugs & feature requests directly from developers •  Show each developer his API data •  Respond with HTTP status codes for apps •  Respond with verbose messages for app developers •  Create social error pages with details and hints •  Favor ﬂexibility •  Op5mize usability •  Eliminate unnecessary choices •  Invest in highly-‐used features •  Fix high-‐impact bugs •  List resources by importance *

Ques5ons

groups.google.com/group/api-‐cra?

THANK YOU Ques%ons and ideas to: @kevinswiber @13protons groups.google.com/group/api-‐cra?

http://blog.apigee.com	684
http://apigee.com	659
http://blog.edit.apigee.net	79
http://feeds.apigee.com	66
http://edit.apigee.net	11
https://si0.twimg.com	6
https://twitter.com	5
http://blog-dev.apigee.com	2
http://www.directrss.co.il	1
http://www.hanrss.com	1

Applying Design Principles to API Initiatives

by Apigee on Sep 21, 2012

Accessibility

Categories

Upload Details

Usage Rights

10 Embeds 1,514

Statistics