Enterprise social API Jive Software wins for the best developer landing page. Normally I tell folks, like I did with Trade.gov last week, that your landing page should have a short, precise description of what you API does—this is some seriously valuable real estate, and you have one chance to make an impression.
I would put Jive Software into the category of more making a first impression, than providing a short description of what the API does:
I wouldn’t recommend this approach for every API provider, but if you can do it right, and make a solid first impression—run with it! As an API Evangelist, and IPA Evangelist, I can seriously get behind a message like “brew up something awesome”. +1
I like how they have apps, docs, APIs, and IPAs as taps, and the taps even work when you mouseover! Seriously, all of this API shit is hard to make entertaining (trust me I know), and when you can provide this human touches while inciting innovation, they can go a long way in breaking the ice with consumers.
Right above the taps Jive Software provides the essential getting started, and register links for their APIs, which signals that beyond the fun facade, they mean business, and want to help you onboard with using their APIs. I haven’t dug deep into the Jive Software API to see what else is going on, but after this first impression it is likely I will be looking around more, now that they made a good first impression.
