APIs or Application Programming Interfaces are powerful & quite useful these days that help enable your software programs to communicate with each other. They make the transfer of data between the frontend and backend seamless.

Integrating API features & data in your web application or other software products helps make them dynamic & scalable. Further, APIs help in increasing developer productivity and save considerable time & effort that can be used for more important tasks.

Developing frontends of software applications require using different kinds of APIs that help make the development process faster. APIs provide frontend developers with an advantage to access the data & achieve useful tasks within a certain time without having to write long codes.

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Here I’m going to present to you a list of several powerful APIs that frontend developers should use.

Powerful APIs that Every Frontend Developer Should Know

APIs help frontend developers in data retrieval and storage and get better app performance. Also, they help build powerful web applications that support the ultimate goal of providing the best user experience. Let’s see how the following APIs can help frontend developers:

1. JSONPlaceholder

One of the popular frontend development APIs which is based on JavaScript is JSONPlaceholder. The initials JSON stand for JavaScript Object Notation. It’s called a developer’s image placeholder.

Developers used this API initially for prototyping and testing. Moreover, it provides a fake REST API, which is an online service that can be accessed from anywhere at any time. JSONPlaceholder is also useful and popular to fill gaps in the testing process.

Features of JSONPlaceholder

• No registration is required to use this API.
• Configuration is not required or necessary.
• Helps in creating basic APIs automatically.
• Share many connections with data
• CORS and JSONP cross-domain is incorporated.
• Highly supportive API with requests like POST, PATCH, PUT, and others.
• Compatible with different JavaScript frameworks such as Angular, Backbone, and others.
• Restful APIs are provided for several resources such as comments, albums, photos, etc.

2. Fake Store API

Used mostly by online eCommerce stores or shopping website prototypes, the Fake Store API provides software developers with dummy data for online shopping. The API helps developers quickly test different parts of the frontend through pseudo-real data with no requisite server-side code.

Fake Store API also supports all the HTTP methods like GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, and DELETE and can be used for any kind of project. The restful APIs of the fake store are essential for building the first-ever eCommerce store. Further, it replaces the lorem ipsum approach and saves a considerable amount of time.

The products endpoint provides a list of items along with their name, description, price, and image URL. An array of product IDs and a list of groups with names are returned by the categories endpoint. Developers can make, retrieve, update, and delete orders, along with details about the customer, the items ordered, and the overall price, using the orders endpoint.

The Fake Store API is not intended to be used in actual e-commerce apps as a production-ready API. It is created especially for use in testing and development. Instead of having to develop their own backend, it can be a useful instrument for developers who want to test out e-commerce apps.

The API also excludes content-related concerns and focuses on design interactivity. Also, the API provides resources for Products, Cards, Users, and Login Tokens.

3. Unsplash API

This is a modern JSON API and is the most powerful photo engine that offers 600k+ free, high-quality, high-definition, and license-free photos. It enables front-end developers to use all the available images at no cost for their front-end development project.

Developers may identify particular images by looking for keywords, colors, or collections using the Unsplash API. They can also retrieve the most widely shared images on the site or random images. Once an image has been retrieved, the developer can use it in other ways or show it in their application.

The Unsplash API is available for free, but before using it, developers must register for an account and get an API pass. The API key is utilized to verify requests and guarantee that developers are adhering to the Unsplash usage guidelines.

For developers seeking to incorporate excellent images into their projects, the Unsplash API is a useful tool.

Here are some best things about this API:

• Developers can use images for both personal and commercial usage.
• The API is free to use & easy to set up.
• The Unsplash API is fast & flexible to use
• Does not require any premium plan to use premium images.

Another great thing about this API is developers can easily search photos by keywords, random images, or multiple datasets.

4. Quotes API

Quotes API is a feature-rich API that offers access to the quotes platform. This API provides a platform for documentation of world-famous quotes API to create and manage quotes. Developers may need an API key to access the quotes API service.

The use of a Quotes API in developing software has several advantages. First of all, by offering users motivational, educational, or entertaining material, quotes can enhance the worth of applications and websites. In addition, by not having to manually select or develop their collection of quotes, using an API saves developers time and effort.

Developers have access to a wide variety of Quotes APIs, some of which are free to use and others that demand money. Depending on the collection size, accessible filtering options, and price, developers can select an API that best suits their needs. There are several well-known quote APIs, including the Forismatic API, and Quote Garden API.

Here are some categories of quotes this API offers:

• Quote of the day
• Quotes by category 
• Quotes by authors
• Quotes by popularity
• Randomly selected quotes

5. Storage Persistent

Sometimes, it's hard to know how much storage space has been utilized and how much is available for use. What if all the storage memory is used and there’s no local memory to store and maintain a website’s data? The browsers may attempt to clear the storage space automatically.

For web developers who need to keep data locally in the client's browser, the Storage Persistent API is a powerful tool. It can be used to keep track of user preferences, setting preferences, and any other data that has to last across sessions. The API provides an easily understood user interface for storing and retrieving data, and it is fully compatible with contemporary web browsers.

Before using the Storage Persistent API, web developers must confirm that the client's browser supports it. A simple conditional statement that looks for the API can be used to accomplish this. Developers can use the API to store and retrieve data if it is available.

However, offline applications won’t be able to work appropriately. What this API does is tells the browser to prioritize the maintenance of the website’s data in the best way possible. It will first prioritize the crucial data for offline applications if there is memory pressure and will be cleared last if there is no place for a browser with data permission.

To enable this, we have to mark our storage as persistent. Thus, before clearing the data browsers will notify and ask users for permission to delete those data.

6. RandomUser

This API is beneficial for those who have just started in the realm of frontend development. The Random User API provides randomly generated users to be the placeholders for testing purposes.

Here are a few powerful things about this tool:

• It’s similar to the lorem ipsum
• But instead of the normal text, there are people available here.
• It can return multiple results
• Developers can specify user-generated details such as,
• First & last name
• Email address
• Username
• Address
• Title
• Gender
• Country
• And many other things

In particular, for front-end developers, APIs have grown to be an essential part of web application development. The most well-known kind of on-web API is REST, which offers a standardized method for accessing and modifying data.

The YouTube API, GitHub API, and WooCommerce API are just a few of the potent APIs that front-end writers should be familiar with. These APIs give users access to a variety of data and features that can be added to apps.

Additional features and tools are provided by other helpful APIs like Jsonplaceholder, Mockoon, Beeceptor, Rails API, and Javadoc to speed up the development process. Developers can create more innovative and productive apps while saving time and effort by utilizing these APIs.

Conclusion

The front end of the web application is the most crucial part that requires more attention to detail. Frontend developers here must have to focus on different attributes to increase the interactivity and user-friendliness of the application. That’s where application programming interface tools come into the picture.

Several APIs help ease the work of front-end developers by improving productivity and saving time. We have listed some of the powerful APIs that frontend developers can use during the development of web applications. However, you can always go for custom API solution development.

Ashutec Solution Pvt. Ltd. is one of the renowned outsourcing service providers offering various software and product development services. We have a team of experienced frontend & API development experts to build customized API solutions tailored to your requirements. Contact us or write to us at connect@ashutec.com for more information on the same.