15 Web APIs You've Never Heard of

Philip Ackermann takes a look at the most interesting Web APIs currently in development that may be supported by browsers in the coming years

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There is a huge number of Web APIs available and sometimes as a web developer it can be hard to keep track of new APIs. So we’ve helpfully collated a list of Web APIs that are not finalised yet and in very early stages, but are likely to become important in the following months or years. These APIs include handling payments, connecting to sensors and more – make sure you keep tabs on them.

01 Payment request API w3.org/TR/payment-request When you look at payment forms and workflows on websites and web applications they often differ from each other, although in principle the workflow should always be the same: confirm the shopping cart, add the shipping and billing address, select the payment method, confirm everything, accept the terms and conditions and send the final request form. From a usability point of view this difference can actually have a negative effect. From a developer’s point of view, implementing a payment flow every time from scratch can also be a very time-consuming process: different forms need to be implemented, different payment methods like PayPal or credit card integrated and everything has to be secure as well. The Payment Request API currently developed by the W3C wants to facilitate and standardise the process of creating payment workflows and provides several interfaces. It’s definitely an API that’s worth a look in!

02 Web share API and Web share target API github.com/WICG/web-share and github.com/WICG/web-share-target