Miguel Afonso Caetano"Consumers want to be able to try an API operation and access concrete example information, or configuration data, such as credentials. Markdown alone isn’t going to provide these elements for you. Fortunately, there’s something else that will, as we’ll see next.
The solution you need is called MDX. It’s a superset of Markdown that lets you embed components within your content. Or just render dynamic information obtained from executing JavaScript. You get to keep the simplicity and versatility of Markdown. But now, you can also use dynamic elements and data. This completely changes the game for API documentation. You can, for instance, embed a component to show the consumer’s API key, or one to make an API request and show its response. This hands-on interactivity helps users test the API faster. And, because of that, it significantly reduces the Time to First Call, or TTFC. Since a low TTFC means the API onboarding experience is excellent, it translates directly into a higher perception of quality. Which is exactly what you’re looking for.
Moving from pure Markdown to MDX doesn’t have to be complicated. However, and especially if you have little coding experience, putting an MDX system together from scratch can be challenging. Luckily, there are many systems that already support MDX. Docusaurus, for instance, supports it by default. Astro is another example of a content system where you can use MDX. There are more options, including commercial ones. What I’d recommend, though, is to check out the official documentation and have a go at the MDX playground."
https://apichangelog.substack.com/p/making-api-documentation-dynamic
#API #APIDocumentation #TechnicalWriting #Markdown #MDX #APIDesign #DX #DeveloperExperience
Leanpub
Markus Eisele
Arjen Poutsma
iSAQB
JAVAPRO
AsyncAPI Initiative
arcofai
