What is an API?

You may have heard the term API thrown around a lot, but exactly what is an API?  An API is basically an interface for one system to “talk” to another system. For example:

1. if we want to pull a list of reviews from Google and display this on your website, your website will connect to a Google API to retrieve these reviews.
2. If you have a payment page on your website, your website will connect to your payment gateways “API” to process the payment.

Other API’s we’ve used in the past

1. Facebook – allow users to login into your website using their Facebook account.
2. Dropbox –stream documents stored in a dropbox to your website
3. Google Maps – display a map on your website, or use “geolocation” to convert an address to a longitude / latitude
4. Stripe – have a payment form / shopping cart on your website that processes credit cards in real time
5. Office 365 – gather information from a calendar to show availability on a website
6. Twilio – send SMS’s to users from your website
7. Vision 6 / Mail Chimp – information submitted via your contact form is added / updated in your Vision 6 or mail chimp Account
8. Amazon S3 – store files uploaded to your website in Amazon S3 storage.

We’ve also integrated with some customised APIs, where a client has requested us to connect their website / system with a specific vendor.