Improving the accessibility of API documentation for non-technical users

Sammanfattning: Software documentation is one of the most important aspects of the software development process, as it allows the transfer of knowledge between individuals, regardless of their background and their technical knowledge. In particular, Application Programming Interfaces provide the basic structure for the communication and integration between different software systems. Therefore, providing solid API documentation is fundamental for the software development process as it represents one of the main learning tools for developers trying to learn new technologies. While researchers have studied the fundamentals of good API documentation design for over twenty years, most studies only focused on the point of view of developers. However, with the rising amount of companies offering Software-as-a-Service products, it has also become important to produce documentation that is accessible to people with limited technical knowledge, i.e. customer representatives.  In order to fill this research gap, a case study was conducted in collaboration with a software company. By using a design science approach, this project focused on creating an API playground environment where users could interact with various APIs offered by the company. The results were evaluated through a questionnaire for user feedback and with an interview conducted with developers from the company. While the outcome of the evaluation was positive, the limited scope of the project prevented some important aspects of API documentation such as navigation from being thoroughly examined, therefore more extensive research is needed in the future.