The Design of Web APIs

7 Designing a concise and well-organized API

This chapter covers

• Organizing an API’s data, feedback, and goals
• Managing the granularity of data, goals, and the API

Now that you know how to design straightforward and predictable APIs, we have one last thing to cover in order to be sure we’re designing usable APIs. TV remote controls sometimes look intimidating with their numerous and not always well-organized buttons. Some microwave ovens or washing machines offer far too many functions for mere mortals. Overwhelming, disorganized, indistinct, or motley everyday interfaces, at best, puzzle their users and, at worst, frighten them.

“Less is more” and “a place for everything and everything in its place” are two adages that every API designer should ...