API tools are key elements in front-end development, both mobile, and web. This article explores some interesting options available and their main features.
Why Do You Need to Use API Tools for Frontend Development?
API tools are a vast universe. Developing the graphical user interface of your website or mobile application is no small feat, but as a front-end developer, you’re also responsible for its design and implementation.
You’re in charge of checking everything the web designer puts together, using programming languages like CSS, HTML, or JavaScript to make sure everything runs smoothly. So, you are keenly aware of the vital role of the frontend in the development process, without which users simply wouldn’t be able to interact with the web page or app.
Luckily, there are ways to improve the developing experience and make the programming process easier. One option is to use Application Program Interfaces (APIs). One of the technology industry’s most abstract concepts, it’s best known for revolutionising communication and integration in web development. Its name refers to the many protocols used to create and link applications with one another so that users can seamlessly access multiple services simultaneously and transfer information across them. It’s a set of procedures and instructions provided within an abstraction layer by one type of software to allow other software to access and exchange information from it, using one another’s information while also staying independent.
In terms of web development, Application Programming Interfaces are powerful and extremely useful tools that essentially streamline the transfer of data between the frontend and backend in real time. These services help save considerable time, increase the developers’ performance, reduce development costs, and help make dynamic and scalable web applications that offer the best user experience. Accessed from the client, frontend APIs authenticate with the current user’s session, assuming they have permission. Augmenting rather than replacing conventional Backend versions, they enable developers to access, retrieve, and store data easily, completing useful tasks within a set timeframe without writing long code. Many such tools are available to front-end developers, but 5 of them stand out from the crowd.
Unsplash API Tool
Unsplash is a more modern version of JSON that uses OAuth2 access token validation. This self-styled leading photo engine comes with over 4.5 million photos that are licence-free, high-quality, and high-definition works. According to official Unsplash statistics, it boasts 5 billion downloads and over 150 billion requests from over 300,000 developers. This API Tool protects its photographs Unsplash Licence, a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) type of licence, which states:
- Both personal and corporate users can enjoy it
- No license or subscription is necessary
- Attribution isn’t compulsory with the paid service
The service provides a documentation section that covers all the main pain points of front-end development. In a nutshell, front-end developers who sign up to Unsplash for free benefit from:
- A free, fast, flexible, and easy to configure Application Programming Interfaces
- No pricing model or usage restrictions.
- No premium plan required for using premium images.
- Vast library searchable by keyword, random images, and multiple datasets.
MovieDB
The Movie Database (TMDB) is a film and TV series database built by a community of contributors who are free to enter data and update information at will. The service has processed over 3 billion requests and featured 2.6 million people, 3.5 million TV episodes, and nearly 4 million images to date. After signing up and receiving a key, you get unique URLs for film images. You can also send your request for a specific film’s dataset, fetch a list of films based on keywords, and get more details about specific shows using a simple ‘base URL’ formula. This includes vote counts, vote scores, popularity, languages, genres, and storyline. Its Application Programming Interface opens film data to the wider world by:
- Providing metadata on films, shows, and TV people, as well as posters and fan art
- Making itself available to 750,000 developers
- Enabling contributors to upload over 1,000 images daily
- Supporting 39 languages and being accessed in over 180 countries
FakeStoreAPI
The Fake Store is a favourite with e-commerce websites and e-shop prototypes for start-ups, providing dummy data for web platforms with a specialty in online retail. It helps developers test the store’s user interface quickly with pseudo-real or fictitious data and no server-side code running. It does away with content-related issues and helps them focus only on the interactivity of their design. Some of its most valued features are:
- Provides resources for products, cart, users, and login tab.
- Users can deploy it in any kind of project.
- It’s a timesaving alternative to the unsightly lorem ipsum placeholder approach
- It supports all HTTP methods (e.g., GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE) for retrieving and sending server data
Quotes API
Quotes is a gateway to quote platforms. It serves as a massive database that third-party apps and web pages can access to integrate inspirational lines of text in their architecture and manage this content. It’s used by front-end developers to offer documentation for world-famous quotes from some of the best minds in human history. Web pages can then display these quotes to attract the reader’s attention. Users, who may require API keys to access this service, will notice these standout features:
- It supports basic HTTP methods (e.g., GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE)
- Quotes are customizable and users can create their own
- Quotes can be displayed by day, category, or randomly, as well as sorted in terms of author or popularity
PokéAPI
With PokéAPI, the self-styled RESTful Pokémon, users benefit from an interface with detailed objects sourced from the Pokémon main game series. This Application Programming Interface is tailored to the video game franchise. With it, the end customer can access and consume a plethora of information on Pokémon, including their moves, types, egg groups, Berry flavours, and abilities. For instance, they can display all the original 151 Pokémon on a single page, with card-like styling for each of them, and relevant information like the name, image, number, and type. Another usage scenario is building a fully functional Pokédex to fetch data with HTML, CSS, or Javascript. Depending on the application, users may fetch information for specific Pokémon from the PokéAPI database, pull random Pokémon for display, or use them in battle.
API Tools: the key to boosting UX
These are just some of the many Application Program Interfaces that can help front-end developers save time, improve productivity, and ease their work. But there’s no shortage of options for developers with a user-centric perspective. As for those who want full control of the development process, there is also the option to create a bespoke user interface with ‘customizable APIs’.
Crucial as it may be to improve user experience in web development, developers can end up building monolithic applications to cut corners. But a user-friendly and interactive interface isn’t all that hard to build with the right API. These timesaving and performance boosting tools provide the right environment for front-end professionals to focus on the finer detail in their web development projects.
After all, the front-end of a web application is the most crucial part in terms of user experience, and the one that requires the greatest attention to detail. Front-end developers must juggle different attributes to boost the UI’s interactivity and user-friendliness, and that’s where API tools come into the picture; and once they take over, they transform, streamline, and optimize development in the interest of the developer, and most importantly, the end user.
